The Storm
by BackToBlonde
Summary: The sequel to "The Damage Has Been Done".  Bad things are happening. The entire fairy population has been mesmerised into hating humans. The world is on the brink of an inter-species war. What can twenty-seven fairies and one human do?
1. Chapter 1

The Storm

**Hello! This is a sequel to my other story, **_**'The Damage Has Been Done'. **_**If you have read that, then welcome back! ^_^ **

*****I suggest that you go and read the first story first if you haven't already done so, or else the beginning could be confusing *****

**Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl. **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 1: Return**

**Fowl manor: Ireland**

The human teenager sat in silence, staring blankly out at the flurries of snow spiralling past his open study window. Every so often, a stray gust of wind would send the white flecks scurrying inside, where they would promptly melt all over his paperwork. Most of the sheets covering his desk were now soaked beyond repair; the handwriting scrawled across them barely legible. Artemis picked one up and absent-mindedly smudged the damp ink across the paper with a finger. After some time, he seemed to finally notice what he was doing and dropped the sheet into a nearby bin, a look of mild disgust crossing his face. His finger was now covered in black ink. Wiping it on his trousers in a very un-Fowl-like gesture, he stood up and left.

Artemis found his bodyguard in the kitchen preparing dinner for them both. "Butler? Any word?"

"Sorry Artemis. There's been nothing all day."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Artemis was currently waiting to hear word from the fairy people on the most recent catastrophe to strike Haven. The entire population, with the exception of twenty-seven fairies who had been above ground at the time, had been mesmerised into hating humans. They were now planning a war to take back the surface. Holly Short, Trouble Kelp and the other un-mesmerised fairies were currently en-route to Haven to attempt to catch the culprit and regain control in the city, though Artemis hadn't heard anything from them since they left Fowl Manor that morning.

* * *

**Tara shuttle port: Ireland**

Holly Short was currently being held at gunpoint. Not that this was unusual; she seemed to spend an abnormally large percentage of her time with some sort of weapon pointed at her. But then, that came with the job. Join the LEP and you were bound to find yourself in a few life or death situations.

On her left, her commanding officer, Trouble Kelp, was attempting to diffuse the situation. "Right, soldier. Calm down and we can discuss this peacefully."

In front of her, the half-crazed security gnome shook his head and swung the gun towards him instead. "No! I know who you are! You're Kelp! You're the LEP commander who turned traitor! And you lot!" he gestured wildly with the gun to the officers behind Trouble. They flinched and stepped back as the weapon passed them. "You're all them LEP soldiers who helped the human, Fowl! You're all turncoats! That's what you are! Assisting the enemy! Helping the humans!" he spat the last word out as though it was something disgusting on his tongue and then spoke frantically into a small handheld communicator. "It's Kayson here, the deserters are trying to get in through Tara. Backup needed immediately!"

Barely ten seconds later, the lone gnome was joined by a large crowd of fairies. There were some LEP officers in the ranks, but it was mainly civilians. They were all carrying weapons with varying degrees of deadliness; from flashy neutrinos down to the classic shovels and pitchforks used by stereotypical angry mobs.

"Trouble…" said Holly in a low voice. "It's your call, but I really think we should retreat. Not all of us here are fighters, and we can't risk Opal getting loose somehow."

Commander Kelp nodded. "I think you're right." He turned to his men. "Retreat. We can't risk our prisoner escaping, and Qwan and No1 need protecting too." The Recon and Retrieval officers lowered their weapons and turned back towards the shuttles, climbing inside and firing up the engines. Unfortunately for Holly and Trouble, who were further away, the vindictive crowd of fairies didn't like the idea of the 'traitors' escaping, and chose that moment to charge.

Faster than Holly would've believed possible for mesmerised fairies, the crowd swarmed round the pair, cutting off their route to the shuttle.

"D'arvit!" swore Trouble, flicking off the safety catch on his neutrino. Holly did the same. Simultaneously, they brandished them at the advancing crowd, holding them back.

The crowd were getting more and more agitated as they circled the two fairies. A small pixie in the front started up a chant, "Trai-tor scum! Trai-tor scum! Trai-tor scum!" pretty soon, the shuttle port was filled with angry voices all yelling the same two words. It seemed to echo through Holly's ears, melding into strings of gobbledygook.

"!"

As the noise reached a crescendo, the mob began to advance again, pushing and jostling for position.

"Commander Kelp!" Holly spun round. It was Birch. He was leaning out of the hovering shuttle, waiting for orders."

"Birch!" Kelp yelled over the din. "Get out of here now! Take the shuttle back to Fowl Manor, I'm putting you in charge till Holly and I get back!"

"But commander-"

"GO!"

The gnome nodded seriously and swung the doors shut. The shuttles pulled away, taking with them Holly's hopes of ever seeing Artemis again. There was no way they'd ever get out of this one alive.

Trouble interrupted her bleak predictions. "Captain Short! Pull yourself together! We need to fight our way out of this one."

Holly composed herself, breathing in deeply and straightening up. Of course, even if she wasn't going to live through this, she was still planning on going out fighting. Without hesitation, she began pumping her neutrino trigger for all it's worth, immediately taking down five fairies that strayed a little too close. "Let's do this."

* * *

**Fowl Manor: Ireland_- 4:39pm_**

Artemis was still waiting anxiously for any news from the fairies. He had relocated to his room and was currently pacing. He had been irritating Butler downstairs with his incessant movement, but he couldn't help it; he was worried. He should have heard something by now. His fairy communicator, given to him by Holly all those years ago, was beginning to grow slippery from holding it too tightly in his clammy hand.

Artemis sighed and strode towards the French doors, swinging them open with a single deft movement. He stepped out onto the balcony, feet crunching in the ever-deepening snow. It was too hot to be inside. He wiped a bead of cooling perspiration from his brow and leaned back against the house wall, staring through the thick-falling snow as though he could actually see. His breath clouded in front of him and he shivered, the thin shirt he wore barely doing any good whatsoever.

As Artemis stared, a single light suddenly blinked out through the darkness, a splash of emerald green in an otherwise monochromatic landscape. _What's that? _He thought. _It isn't coming from the direction of Dublin, so it cannot be light pollution, and it isn't a low flying plane as there are no registered flight routes in this particular area._

He stepped forwards as the light grew bigger, eventually mutating into a light on the hull of a LEP shuttle. One of the same ones, in fact, that had left the manor only a few hours previously. Artemis turned and rushed back indoors, slipping and sliding in his haste. He barrelled down the staircase, two-at-a-time, and almost crashed straight into his bodyguard.

"Butler! They're back."

"Back?"

Artemis ignored the query and dodged round the manservant's massive bulk, yanking the front door open and hurrying out onto the snow-covered drive. He reached the now-stationary ship just as the doors flew open with a _'hiss'_.

"Holly?" he called, craning his neck to get a better look at the diminutive helmeted figure in front of him.

"No such luck, mud boy." Came a deep male voice. The officer pulled off his helmet and jumped to the ground.

"Captain Birch! What's going on?"

"Wait a second." He replied, before turning to watch the empty sky. Artemis followed the gnome's gaze and immediately pinpointed the source of interest; a large blank space where snow didn't seem to be falling. As he looked on, three more shuttles fizzled into existence and floated down to earth.

"How come _your_ shields weren't working?" queried Artemis, looking at the first shuttle.

"Defences are shot, someone hit the shield projector with a neutrino blast." Birch replied without looking away. Three more doors flew open and a small stream of helmeted fairies began to emerge, dropping down onto the ground and marching over. They were followed by five white-suited medical warlocks, then Mulch, Qwan, No1, and Foaly.

Artemis, who had been counting in his head, turned to Birch in alarm. "Twenty-four? Where are the Commander and Captain Short?"

Birch cast his gaze downwards. "We tried to gain access to Haven through Tara, but we were outnumbered by the mesmerised fairies. Commander Kelp ordered us to return here; we had to ensure Opal didn't escape in the skirmish. Unfortunately, Kelp and Captain Short didn't make it to the shuttle before the horde blocked them off. He has put me in charge until… until he gets back." Artemis could see it in the gnome's eyes as he said the last sentence. Birch didn't believe the commander would be coming back, or to an extension, Holly.

Artemis passed a shaking hand over his eyes, trying to stay in control. He could panic later. Right now, he had work to do. "Right. I take it Commander Kelp wanted to use Fowl Manor as a stronghold until you can take back to Haven?"

"I believe that was his intention, yes. If that's okay with you of course."

"Of course it's fine. My family are still at the safe house in Limerick. But you'll need to do something about the defences. You broke my force field remember?"

Birch nodded. "You and Foaly can sort that out. We'll get the equipment indoors." He signalled to the fifteen LEP soldiers and they climbed into the first shuttle, emerging with plastic boxes full of different pieces of electrical equipment and weapons. They began to heave them up the icy stone steps, groaning slightly under the weight of the centaur's various inventions and hardware.

"Just go through to the hall. Butler will help you set up a room." Artemis said as they passed. He turned to Foaly who grinned a little evilly.

"Right, Arty. You and me working together. This could be… interesting."

Qwan interrupted with a small cough and glanced upwards at the pair, shielding his eyes from the falling snow. "If you're needing time, N01 and I could cast protective spells over the Manor for tonight. We won't be able to keep them up long term but we could buy you some time."

Artemis nodded hollowly. "Thank you Qwan." He turned and followed the centaur inside.

* * *

**Some hours later.**

"Security systems ready." Artemis stood with his finger poised over a big red button on a newly created control panel. "Should I activate?"

Foaly nodded. "Activate and lock."

Artemis pressed the button, twisting a small lever next to it to keep it on. Immediately, a bundle of lights switched from red to green. Pulses of electricity echoed down streams of wires that connected to various parts of Fowl manor. The two geniuses sat in silence for a couple of moments, watching as various readouts flickered and changed.

"Qwan!" Foaly yelled as the displays settled. "You can stop your spells now!" outside the window, the night sky began to flicker, alternating between snowy black and a fluorescent blue. After about ten seconds, it slowed and settled on blue. A faint hum filled the air once more. It reminded Artemis of the sound an old-fashioned television made when it was turned on. A sort of scratchy, whiny drone that was barely audible to the human ear.

"That's your force field back online mud boy." Said Foaly somewhat unnecessarily.

Artemis spared a single glance out the window from his cross-legged seat on the floor, and then turned back towards the jumble of multicoloured wires he was untangling. "Good. Have your upgrades integrated with my system?"

The centaur turned to a screen and brought up another page of readouts. "Yup. The force field should hold up against pretty much anything now." He fell silent as Artemis nodded without turning from his work. "Artemis." the boy looked up, the fearful expression in his eyes immediately being replaced by the usual ice-cold mask of indifference.

"What?"

"Are you alright?"

"I am perfectly fine, Foaly. What on earth made you think otherwise?"

"I don't know. You seem a bit distracted." He nodded at the frayed cable in Artemis's hands. "You've been untangling that same wire for the last half- hour."

Artemis looked down at the offending cord for a few seconds, and then let it slip from his fingers. It fell forgotten to the floor. He seemed to be contemplating something and paused before speaking. "I'm fine Foaly. Honestly. I'm just worried about Trouble and Holly."

Foaly bent and ruffled Artemis's hair. "We're all worried mud boy. But we need to concentrate on the task at hand, you if all people should understand that."

Artemis nodded. "I know. The world as we know it is at stake here. " He looked back up at the centaur, the steely determination back in his eyes. "Pass me those V-gloves."

* * *

**There you go! Chapter 1. Does it show potential? I hope so. I have LOADS of ideas for this fic. It is going to be quite a bit more ambitious than 'The Damage Has Been Done'. I can't wait to write it! **

**(Also, I apologise if Artemis was a little OOC in this chapter, but I figured that by now in my stories he has been in so many life or death situations in the last week that it kinda made sense. His calmness is cracking.)**

**Please review and help me to keep my regained enthusiasm alive! ^_^**

**Katy x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here you go! I am assuming this will be my last update before Christmas so consider it an early present. **

**Merry Christmas! ****And for anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, this can just be a random gift from me.**

**Thank you for all the reviews! 16 in 6 days! I am pretty sure that's a record for me. Keep it up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl. You know that. Now get reading.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 2: ****Hot stuff**

Holly Short and Trouble Kelp stood their ground as the mesmerised fairies encircled them.

The image before her eyes reminded Holly randomly of a pack of hyenas she'd once seen on TV. They'd rounded up their prey much like this, hemming in the poor defenceless animal and then striking as a pack.

The sounds the fairies were emitting were eerily similar to hyenas. The continual chanting could easily be compared to the cackles of the African mammal.

Beside her Trouble loosed off a couple more shots into the chest of a bulked-up jumbo pixie who was edging too close. He tumbled face first to the dusty ground and was immediately replaced by three more fairies. The crowd began to press in on all sides, pushing Holly and Trouble closer together till they were back to back.

Holly yelled to make herself heard over the din around them. "Trouble! See an escape route?"

The commander's trained eyes scanned the area over the heads of the fairies. He was a professional at finding his way out of a firefight. It was LEP Academy basic training; if an officer couldn't locate the safest route to take, then they were a dead fairy. No point in even trying.

He spotted a slight thinning of the crowd towards the magma chute entrance. "I've got a visual of the exit. By the chute. On three captain Short?"

"Three's good for me."

"One, two, three!" simultaneously, the two elves ducked to the ground as the nearest fairies made a grab for them. Crouching low, they began loosing off shots at random, scorching numerous ankles and toppling members of the crowd like dominoes.

"This way Holly!" Trouble yelled. He began crawling through the chaos. Holly turned and followed, dodging trampling feet as she went. A couple of fairies noticed what they were doing and tried to pursue, but the chaos that followed the progress of Holly and Trouble's neutrinos soon forced them to stop.

They made it through to the space mostly unharmed, though sporting quite a few scratches and scrapes between them. Holly jumped to her feet first and pulled Trouble up after her. Behind them, the confused crowd were slowly gathering their surroundings. It was slightly eerie when, as one, they turned to face the two elves.

Trouble shivered. "Creepy." As quickly as possible, they hurried towards the chute entrance, closely pursued by the mob of fairies.

"What do we do?" Holly yelled as they passed the green-lit docking station.

"Heat suits! We're going in!" he yelled back, swiftly changing direction and careering off to the left, where Holly could just see the entrance to a LEP lockup.

"Of course. Heat suits." She muttered, before following, elbowing a couple of crazed sprites out of the way as she did.

The commander was already at the lockup, keying in the code as fast as he could and flinging the door open. Just inside the door, to their extreme good fortune, they found two heat protection jumpsuits. Slamming the door behind them, Trouble grabbed a suit, throwing the other to Holly. She caught it and immediately pulled it on over her LEP jumpsuit, where it shrank a little to fit the contours of her body snugly. Trouble was doing the same.

She scanned the room, looking for the special helmets that went with them. They had to be made from a specific polymer to withstand the intense heat from the chutes, for that was what the heat suits were for.

A couple of years ago, when Holly was still in Hybras, the investigation over the B'wa Kell rebellion had finally come to a close. And apart from the new security features, the council had also ordered that Foaly invent a suit that would insulate a LEP officer in the event that they were caught unawares by a magma flare, as had happened to Holly. She had survived purely by luck, and so now, any time anyone went in the chutes, they had to don the new outfits. They were not exactly the most fashionable clothing, but they worked. They were jet black, with a mirrored coating pasted over the fabric to reflect heat. And instead of the usual heating coils, Foaly had installed hundreds upon hundreds of cooling gel packs that instantly activated when intense heat was applied. The officer would basically be encased in a mirrored bubble until the flare passed. They were completely insulated; even the helmets and gloves had to be locked in place.

Holly passed Trouble the second helmet and he screwed it on tightly, activating the oxygen pack attached to his back and switching on the helmet mike. Holly did the same and they looked at each other.

"Ready?" she asked, glancing towards the door. Hammering sounds were coming from the other side.

"Ready." The commander strode forwards, neutrino at the ready and opened the door. The crowd surged in, but before they could make a grab for the two elves, Holly and Trouble had activated their wings and soared up and over their heads, heading for the open blast doors. Naturally, the sprites present all gave chase, blocking the exit towards Ireland and herding them down the way. Which to be honest, didn't bother Holly that much as they were planning on going in that direction anyway.

They made it to the entrance to the chute without major incident, though a few sprites got pretty badly singed from the fairies below, who were now blasting any weapons they had upwards. Luckily for Holly and Trouble, their heat suits dispelled every blast.

Without looking back, they dived into the cute and flew as fast as they could downwards, heading into the main chute in the area, E1. Behind them, the sounds of pursuit grew fainter and fainter as the sprites gave up chase. Sure, the mob wanted the traitors dead, but they weren't going to risk getting fried for the sake of revenge. Without Foaly on their side, no one knew when the next flare would be. Except Holly and Trouble who had the readouts displayed on the inside of their helmets as an extra precaution. Holly chose to glance at the figures as they made it into E1. Apparently, it was in five minutes.

"Trouble, the next flare is due any minute." She called out, sounding slightly worried.

"D'arvit Holly! I know that! Hurry up!"

They sped up as much as they could. They had to get into another secondary chute before the next flare came. Though Foaly's suits were equipped with wings, they had one major design flaw; the wings didn't work when the gel packs were activated, which was in roughly five minutes from now. _And_, Holly thought_, if we're hanging suspended in midair over the earth's core when the flare comes, lets just say it's not going to be much fun when the wings stop working._

Out loud she asked, "Where's the nearest exit to the surface?"

Trouble had to shout into the helmet mike now. The customary roar that came with a magma flare was beginning to rumble deep below them. "France, seven hundred miles from here, but there's a service tunnel forty miles away. If we can reach it in time, it's small enough that we can land before the flare reaches us.

Holly opened her wings to full throttle. Four minutes to travel forty miles. They could make it. They _would_ make it.

_Three minutes to go…_

Holly could feel the g-force rippling her cheeks as she pushed the wings as fast as they could go.

_Two minutes to go…_

Close behind her, she heard Trouble speed up further. His wings were making a funny clunking sound that really didn't sound healthy. Twelve miles to go now…

_One minute to go…_

It was starting to get hotter now, Holly could see the air below her beginning to glow orange. The rumbling was growing louder. It sounded like some fiery monster from the depths of the earth wanted to swallow them whole. The flare was on its way.

She could see the entrance to the service chute just in front of her. They were going to make it! She willed the wings to keep going, the end was in sight!

Then, of course, as was expected with Holly Short's track record, disaster struck. Behind her, Trouble's wings began to sputter. She slowed down slightly and glanced back. He had stopped completely and appeared to be having some trouble with the anti-friction mechanism. It was smoking slightly.

At that moment, to Holly's horror, the wings packed in altogether and Trouble Kelp plummeted like a stone, right into the mouth of the oncoming flare.

"Trouble!" Holly screamed into her mike as she halted in midair and turned, getting some nasty whiplash from her wingpack as she did so. "I'm coming!"

"Captain Short!" he yelled back as he fell. "Don't you dare! You'll be killed! the flare's too close! I order you not to come!"

Holly kept on flying downwards, following the smoke trail left by the wings. "I've lost one too many commanders in these chutes. I'm not about to lose you too."

She was going to have to fly pretty fast. Foaly had said these wings came close to breaking the sound barrier. Well, she was about to test that theory. If anyone had a chance of reaching that speed, it was her. Holly was the _speed master_. After all, she had the air speed record and the core diving record under her belt already.

She flew, an arrow piercing the cloying orange air around her, following the spiralling figure below her. Past him, she could see the magma building miles away. How long would it take to reach them? The gravity pulling her downwards helped her speed up even more.

Commander Kelp was only thirty metres away now! She outstretched her arms, willing them to grow longer. Twenty metres, there was a huge bang. What was that? Sonic boom? Oops. She must have broken the sound barrier. Holly kept going. _Ten metres…_

"Gotcha!" she pulled out of the dive as tightly as she could at the pace she was travelling, grabbing Trouble's oxygen pack by the handle and pulling him with her. Her own wings made a sad sort of groaning sound as she began to gather speed once more, this time heading up the way. The flare was here. She could feel the gel packs at her feet beginning to tingle as the air warmed. Any second now, they would inflate and she would fall. She pushed her wings further, so close to the service tunnel it was almost touchable.

All of a sudden, the roaring intensified a thousand-fold as white hot magma crashed into her chest. The gel packs in her suit responded immediately, inflating in less than half a second. Holly found herself encased in a giant blue and black bubble. Her grip on Trouble's pack was slipping as his own gel packs inflated, shielding him from the flare. She was so preoccupied with trying to retain her hold on her commanding officer, that Holly didn't notice one vital detail about her current predicament.

Her wings had stopped.

* * *

**Hee hee! (Insert maniacal laughter here) Oh yes that's right! My cliffies are back with a vengeance! ^_^ (Does a little dance to celebrate) **

**Never fear! I shall update within the next 7 days! Review and it shall help me in my plan to get Holly and Trouble out of this horrible predicament!**

**Seriously though, even if you just wanna have a rant at me for cliff hangers, review! **

**It could be a Christmas present to meeeee! (unless you're ranting of course)**

**Katy x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again. I am back from Christmas now and am on the verge of getting snowed in for the third time in two months. Whoo.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed for reviewing! They are appreciated! ^-^ **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 3: Teacups**

**E1: below Ireland**

"D'Arvit! Holly! Your wings!"

"What?" she yelled over the flare.

"YOUR WINGS! THEY'VE STOPPED!"

_Holy Frond! So they have!_ Holly thought unhelpfully as her limbs were slowly encased in gel. There really wasn't much she could do about that right now. She couldn't even see anymore. The gel packs were too thick. Her vision was just a blur of blue and black, with a little bit of red thrown in. she didn't even know what way was up and what was down.

Then, suddenly, Holly began to rotate. Not slowly, not gently. It was more like the kind of spinning you got on those human fairground rides: waltzers or teacups. It was the feeling you get when they spin faster and faster and your head starts flopping from side to side and it feels like your lunch is on its way back up your throat. That was what Holly was currently experiencing, whilst simultaneously plummeting towards the centre of the earth. Naturally, the force of her spinning finally wrenched Trouble's gel-covered wing pack from her hand.

"Trouble!" she screamed as bile rose up her throat. She had just lost her commander again. She couldn't see where he was falling, she couldn't see a thing. She was deaf and blind. The only thing she was aware of was the horrific sloshing of the fluid in her ears as it made her dizzier and dizzier. _What was happening now?_

Luckily, elves are made of tougher stuff than humans, so Holly was able to resist for a while, but eventually, the dizziness became too much and she sank into unconsciousness, still spinning.

* * *

**Fowl Manor: at roughly the same time**

Foaly slammed his fist down on the desk. "Yes!" he cried.

"What is it?" asked Artemis from the other side of the room, where he was still working on updating the security features of the manor.

"I've found the security video feed of Holly and Trouble at Tara."

Artemis rushed over. It had taken the centaur over ten minutes to hack into his own systems and redirect the control to Fowl Manor, but he had succeeded and was currently finding out what had become of their two missing comrades.

Together, they watched as the commander ordered Birch to leave. Once the shuttles were gone, the two elves turned and prepared to fight their way out through the crowd on mesmerised fairies. Artemis watched, heart in his mouth as they made it to the equipment locker and emerged two minutes later wearing fire suits and wings.

"D'arvit! They're heading for the chute!" Foaly cried.

"Don't tell me. There was a flare due." Artemis said flatly.

"Of course there was mud boy. What else do you expect with Holly's track record?"

"Good point." He turned back to the screen. "Are there cameras inside E1?"

The centaur shook his head. "No, but they were wearing fire suits so at least they won't have been burnt to a crisp. I'll try and contact them when the flares go down, which is approximately ten minutes from now."

Artemis sat down to wait. This could be the longest ten minutes of his life.

* * *

**Unidentified Chute: Below the North Sea**

The first thing Holly was aware of when she came to was the horrible nausea rising up inside her. "Uuungh." She groaned, rolling over onto her back and creaking open one eye. _Why wasn't she dead?_ The last thing she remembered was spinning uncontrollably towards the Earth's core. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and had to close her eyes dizzily as her head spun once more. She was going to be sick in a minute. Once she'd recovered slightly, Holly opened her eyes and attempted to take in her surroundings. She appeared to be sitting in the middle of a puddle of bright blue slop. It glowed slightly in the dim orange light and seemed to coat her entire body, making it glow too. It was the gel from the heat suits, which had now deflated. _This stuff is disgusting._ She thought, wiping it from the visor of her helmet. It didn't seem to want to wipe away though. Instead it just smeared across the reinforced plastic, sticking to her gloved fingers. Holly sighed impatiently and twisted the helmet, pulling it off her head and discarding it on the floor.

Once she could see a little clearer, she was pleasantly surprised to see Trouble alive a couple of metres away, doing the same thing as her. She tried to call out to him but instead, was only capable of retching emptily. He heard the sound though and turned to her.

"Holly! You made it too." Giving her a weak grin, he dropped his own helmet, heaved himself up out of his own puddle of sticky sludge and glooped his way over to her. "Why is it you never seem to follow orders?" he smiled, pulling Holly up onto her feet.

Once upright, she swayed a little giddily and then promptly threw up all over her commanding officer's boots. "Oops. Sorry Trouble." She muttered dizzily.

He looked down at his shoes and back up at Holly. "It's okay."

At that moment, Trouble's communicator began to beep. He pulled it from the pocket of his deflated suit and flipped it open. "Foaly."

"Commander! You're alive!"

"Yes I am. Though it was close. If it wasn't for Holly, we'd have both fallen to our deaths. Apparently, your wings don't work when the gel packs on the heat suits are activated."

"Ah. Yes." The centaur sounded uncomfortable. "That's a slight design flaw that I haven't quite overcome yet. Obviously my backup worked however, or you wouldn't be here right now."

"Yes. Now, can you tell us _how_ we survived?

"That'll be the proximity trackers in the heat suits. They're designed to lock onto the nearest flat surface when an officer is caught in a flare. Did you feel yourself spinning?"

"Yes. Very fast."

"That was the detectors locating a suitable place to land. I take it you're in some sort of service tunnel right now?"

Trouble looked around. They were just at the mouth of a small tunnel that seemed to branch off the main chute. Only three metres away from where he was standing, the ground fell away into nothingness. An orange glow was just visible at the bottom, innumerable miles away. "Yes. I think it's the one Holly and I were heading for anyway."

"Good. The suits will have pulled you there. I can find you now. The flare's over so I should be able to get a hold of your exact location. Hold on… I'm just scanning for heat sources…" there was tapping on the other end of the line. "You're in service tunnel B741. Do you want me to send someone to collect you?"

"Yes please. But send them down a disused route. And tell them to keep away from any LEP sensors. The council could be watching."

"Right." Foaly agreed. He didn't bother to inform the commander that actually, the council couldn't access any LEP security features, as they were all now coded to the manor. "They should be here in roughly half an hour."

Holly and Trouble sat down to wait. Thrity-five minutes later, the roar of engines signified their rescuer's arrival. Holly jumped to her feet. Finally! She couldn't stand just sitting here doing nothing when there was a crisis on. She glanced at her commander and smiled. If possible, he was worse than her. He'd spent the entire half-hour pacing the width of the service chute. Even as the shuttle approached the mouth of the tunnel, Trouble was tapping his feet impatiently in the drying gel and muttering under his breath. She was sure that if he'd had to wait another minute, he'd have exploded.

The docking clamps had barely slid into place on the rock and he was striding over to the doors. They slid open just as Holly joined him, revealing a grinning Captain Birch.

"Someone need a lift?" he asked, stepping out the way so they could climb aboard.

"Thank the gods you're here Birch." Holly whispered as she passed. "I don't think Trouble could've lasted much longer."

The gnome grinned. "Impatient, was he?"

"Just a little bit."

Once the doors had slid shut once more, Birch settled himself back at the controls next to his co-pilot, the one and only Chix Verbil. Holly groaned inwardly when she saw him. Of all the fairies to have come from Fowl Manor…

"It's good to see you again Holly. I didn't get a chance to say 'hi' earlier."

"Hello Chix." She replied flatly.

The sprite grinned, not even slightly put off by the fact that Holly was standing in a grungy used heat suit, dripping slimy blue gunk all over the place. "How're you doing?"

Holly sighed. It didn't matter how obvious she was, he would never get the message that she just wasn't interested. "Well, considering that in the last few days I've been kidnapped, lost all my magic, been healed by a human, nearly been imprisoned by the LEP, found out that the entire fairy population has been mesmerised, and been caught in a flare, pretty good."

Chix didn't even register the sarcasm. "Seems like you've been pretty busy lately. Well, we all have." He leaned forwards. "Maybe, once it's all over, I could buy you a drink sometime?"

"Umm…"

"Are you wanting me to go supersonic commander?" Birch interrupted loudly. Holly smiled at him thankfully and he winked before turning to Trouble. "It's probably safer to go subsonic at the moment. We don't know what surveillance they still have access to."

"Foaly said he pulled all of their access." Holly cut in, frowning slightly.

"Yes, but he has been known to get things wrong in the past, and I would rather not get trapped down here." Said Trouble.

"All right." Said Birch. "Strap in and we'll be off."

* * *

**Two hours later.**

LEPRecon captain Birch was currently somewhere beneath Sicily. He was doing his best to pilot the attack shuttle out of the chutes and back to the surface, but every single entrance was now under armed guard. There was no way he would be able to force his way out without killing someone. And that was hardly fair. After all, these mesmerised fairies had no idea what they were doing.

"Try Algeria. Its close by, and I'm pretty sure no-one has used that shuttle-port in centuries." Came Trouble's exasperated voice from behind him. He was grasping at straws now. In the last hour, they had attempted to get through pretty much every shuttle port in Europe. The commander's patience was wearing thin.

"You want to go all the way to _Africa_ commander?"

"If it means that we get out of these infernal chutes, than yes."

Birch shrugged and turned back to the controls, making the quick jaunt beneath the Tyrrhenian Sea and navigating his way towards the exit. As he drew closer to the port, he slowed slightly. "There doesn't seem to be anyone about."

"Good. Head straight up and out."

Birch obeyed, piloting the shuttle up past the docking stations. As he neared the surface doors, a small crowd of fairies ran over, brandishing weapons.

"Looks like it is guarded, though not heavily enough to be a real threat to _this_ shuttle." Commented Trouble, glancing out the window at the group.

Holly shook her head. "There's something not right here. They're still coming at us. They must know they don't have a hope against this shuttle…"

It was at that moment that an elf near the front of the crowd chose to loose off a round of plasma bursts in their general direction. Strangely, instead of dissipating harmlessly against the reinforced hull, the shots punched straight through the sides. One missed Holly so narrowly that she could feel the heat singe her cheek as it passed.

"D'arvit! What the hell was that?" she swore, flattening her body against the seat.

"I have no idea," came Birch's panicked voice. "But we've lost an engine and I think the shield's down."

"Keep going!" yelled Trouble as another volley of plasma bursts punctured the hull.

Birch sped up and they crashed through the doors to the surface, soaring up into the sky. Below them, that fairies sent a couple more shots their way. One of them penetrated the main engine. It sputtered beneath them and died. The next moment, the floor began heating up rapidly, beginning to glow red.

"Oh no." Birch sat frozen for perhaps half a second before launching into action. "The shuttle's going to blow! Get out!" he ran for the door, yanking it open. "Go!"

Chix ran first, leaping out into the hazy air. Trouble and Holly glanced at each other for a split second. They had no wings.

"Get your heat suit off!" she yelled to him, already pulling down her own. Beneath it, her LEP suit was unharmed. And thank Frond, it was fully equipped with a set of wings. A huge bang rocked the shuttle as Trouble copied her. The next second, a fireball ballooned up through the floor, consuming everything in its path. Holly and Trouble jumped from the falling wreckage, followed closely by Birch.

They spiralled down towards the ground before their wings caught the air currents. Holly righted herself quickly and flitted out of the path of the shuttle. She really didn't want to be hit by that. It fell past her, crashing to the ground, where the fire consumed it completely. Through the stinging smoke, Holly could see the metal twisting and distorting in the heat, folding in on itself. For some reason, the sight made her shudder.

The fairies landed on the ground beside the burning shuttle to regroup.

"What now?" asked Chix, staring at the flaming wreck beside them.

"We need to get back to Fowl Manor ASAP." Trouble said. "Losing a shuttle is a pretty major setback but we still have two, so we'll manage. Right now, we need to get back and try and figure out who is behind this whole situation."

"Right." They turned and launched themselves one by one back into the sky.

As night fell once more upon the African desert, the roaring flames died down, having devoured everything possible. Alone in a pile of embers and ash, the wreckage of the shuttle gave one last groan and collapsed, sending up a flurry of sparks that quickly winked out in the cooling air.

In a week's time, a sandstorm would completely submerge the twisted carcass, and it would be lost forever.

* * *

**Yeah, I know. Not much actually happened but I needed to get them out of the chutes for the next part of the story.**

**I will try and get another update up before the schools go back so to help me along… Review? Please? :)**

**~Katy**


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter's a bit different as it's made up of sort of shorter sections, but I didn't want to put in too much boring stuff :)

**Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 4: An unexpected culprit**

**Fowl Manor: Ireland**

Artemis was sat in front of one of the computers in the library, concentrating fixedly on his task. The blue glow of the monitor bleached the last of the colour from his face, leaving him looking almost ill. Foaly leaned over his shoulder and stared intently at the readouts on the screen; the jumbled Gnommish it displayed made perfect sense to the both of them.

"So it obviously can't be Opal behind this, as she is here with us. And the other Opal is still locked up, right?"

Artemis clicked a couple of times, bringing up the prisoner records for the Deeps. "Yes, she's still in there. All prisoners are accounted for. Whoever is behind this, they are not known to be a criminal."

Foaly sighed. "Well, that still leaves us the rest of Haven, Atlantis and any other smaller fairy civilization you care to mention. We still aren't any closer to finding out the culprit."

"We need to look at this from a different angle Foaly. What was the first sign of trouble below ground?"

The centaur considered this for a moment. "Probably… Cahartez ordering Trouble to arrest you for no reason."

Artemis nodded. "I suggest we find out what he's been up to in the last few days, even weeks. If we can see who he's contacted, it could give us more of an insight."

"But we don't know if he is even remotely involved. The council _all_ made the decision to arrest you, not Cahartez alone."

"Yes, but he is the chairman. Whoever mesmerized the council will have probably gone through him first. He has the most power."

Foaly sighed. "Alright. It's a long shot, but I suppose we could get lucky."

Artemis turned back to the screen but before he could begin his search through the fairy databases, he was interrupted by a loud wailing.

He spun round in his chair. "What was that?"

"It's the proximity detector. Someone's approaching the Manor. Bring up the security feeds outside the force field."

Artemis did as he was told. "I'm not seeing anyone, hold on. It's probably a fairy." he switched on the shield filters and immediately, four black-suited figured popped into existence.

"The question is, are they on our side?" muttered Foaly beside him.

"It could be Birch and Chix back with Trouble and Holly. I told you they'd survive the explosion."

They had lost contact with the shuttle a few hours previously, when a group of the mesmerised fairies had shot some sort of missile at it. There had been no word from any of the four since, and when Foaly had finally managed to trace the vehicle by satellite, al that had been left was a smouldering wreck. Foaly had been devastated at the thought that they were dead, but Artemis had been adamant that they were alive.

"After all," he had said, "they've survived worse."

"It could be them." conceded Foaly. "However, it could also be a trap. We cannot let them in unless we know for sure."

"Alright." They made their way outside to the edge of the force field, where a small crowd of LEP officers were beginning to gather.

Butler brought out the metal frame. "Should I let them in?"

Through the blue distortion of the force field, Artemis could just make out the four figures standing before them.

All of a sudden, Foaly's communicator began to beep. He picked it up and flipped it open, revealing the soot-blackened face of Trouble Kelp.

"Well Foaly? Aren't you going to let us in?"

As he watched Butler open the force field and let the four fairies inside, Artemis let a small sigh of relief escape his lips. They had made it.

* * *

Holly was the last one inside. Behind her, Butler removed the metal frame and the blue sphere became whole once more. She looked around in relief. Never had she been so happy to see Fowl Manor.

Foaly hurried over, pulling her into a tight one-armed hug. "I thought you were all dead."

Holly laughed. "No chance. It would take more than an exploding shuttle to kill me." Foaly smiled and released her from his grip.

Beside her, Trouble immediately strode off towards the manor, beckoning for the rest of them to follow. He needed to see what the others had achieved in his absence. One by one, the officers began to head after him.

As the crowd filtered away, Holly became aware that Artemis was watching her. She turned to face him and he gave a small smile. Though he did not voice it, she could see the relief in his eyes at her return. He had been worried.

* * *

"We know it cannot possibly be Opal, though if she was not locked up, it would be my first guess. Who else would ever find a way to _mesmerize_ every fairy underground?"

They were sitting in Artemis's lab and Foaly was filling in Holly and Trouble on their progress.

"Apart from that, the security on the manor has been upgraded. Nothing, not even an invisible dwarfis getting in here undetected. If someone even scratches their nose within a two-mile radius I'll know about it."

"Good." Trouble stood up and began to pace the room, weaving between various half-completed experiments and creations as he did so. "We need to get this problem sorted as soon as possible. We can't risk exposing our species to the human race. They're bloodthirsty enough that they'll obliterate us within days." He glared at Artemis as though blaming him for the faults of his entire species.

* * *

Artemis narrowed his eyes as he watched the feed. "Foaly… come here."

The centaur looked up from his screen. "What is it mud boy? Found something?"

"I believe so." He rewound the tape and motioned for Foaly to watch. He came over and looked on sceptically.

"Oh my gods Artemis! A door! What an amazing discovery!"

Artemis scowled. "Please rein in any other sarcastic remarks and just watch the footage?"

The screen was showing the door to the council meeting room. As they watched, Cahartez came into view, bumbling down the corridor and humming tunelessly. Reaching the door, he pulled out a keycard and with a swipe of his fist, the door hissed open. The next second, he disappeared from view as it slid shut behind him.

Foaly snorted, unimpressed. "He does the same thing every day mud boy. I hardly think that the chairman of the fairy _council_ entering the _council _meeting room is anything to start up a fuss about."

"I told you not to interrupt."

"No, you said no _sarcastic remarks_. That was not sarcastic."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't."

Artemis sighed. "Will you _please_ just watch the tape?"

The video feed was now showing a second figure approaching the door. This one was a good deal taller than the average fairy, and was instantly recognisable, even to Artemis who did not know that many of the people.

Foaly leaned in closer. "Is that… Qweffor?"

It was. There was no mistaking the curved horns and formidable size of the demon warlock. He was currently housed in the ex-pride leader Leon Abbot's body. As they watched, he rapped smartly on the door. A couple of seconds later, it opened and the warlock entered.

Foaly looked puzzled. "What's he doing in police plaza? This footage is from the morning of your kidnapping. He should be in Section 8 with No1 and Qwan."

"Exactly. That's what I thought. But look." He fast-forwarded the video and then pressed play once more. The door slid open once more and Cahartez left, looking a little dazed. As he wandered back down the corridor, he stumbled a couple of times, looking a little punch-drunk.

Artemis switched camera feeds and they found themselves looking down at the main entrance hall of police plaza. Cahartez appeared from a side corridor and began meandering his way through the crowds, knocking into several annoyed LEP officers on the way and very nearly trampling a pixie underfoot. When he reached the door, he appeared to have some trouble with the handle, making several attempts to push it open. Eventually, a blonde-haired fairy came over and pulled it open for him. Cahartez nodded his thanks and ambled off into the throng of civilians outside.

Foaly sighed heavily. "Trust Lily Frond not to realise something was wrong."

"Cahartez has been mesmerised." Artemis said somewhat unnecessarily. "And it appears that the main suspect is Qweffor, which really makes no sense whatsoever.

"Do we have any footage of the inside of the meeting room?"

Artemis shook his head. "I tried to access the camera but it seems to have been covered up by something."

"Great. So now our main suspect is a demon warlock. How are we supposed to go up against that?"

"You're forgetting we have Qwan and No1. But that's not important. First, we need to find out what exactly has happened below ground. For now, lets just assume that Qweffor has gone in there and mesmerized Cahartez. What would he have done next?"

"Mesmerized the rest of the people."

"Right. But how would he do that? How could he mesmerize roughly twenty thousand fairies all at once?"

"I don't know. Does the video show Qweffor leaving the room?"

Artemis nodded. "But it's not very interesting. He just leaves and makes his way to Section 8."

"All right. Lets get Trouble, No1 and Qwan in here."

* * *

"Qweffor!" Three dumbstruck faces looked back at Foaly as he broke the news.

"How is that even possible? Qweffor's nice! He's my friend!" cried No1. in his anguish, the apprentice warlock accidentally caused blue sparks to jump from his fingertips, igniting the carpet. He hurriedly stamped them out and looked at the others forlornly.

Qwan sighed at his apprentice's outburst. "_Everyone_ is your friend No1." He seemed to be taking this better than the other two. Then again, Qwan was no stranger to betrayal. The last time, he had been turned to stone for a few thousand years.

Trouble was frowning at the screen, where the image of Qweffor leaving the meeting room was frozen. He had just watched through the recording and seemed to be having doubts. "This could all be a set-up you know. Qweffor might have just been in there when the real person behind this mesmerized Cahartez."

"It's doubtful, but possible." Said Foaly. "In any case, I think the first step towards sorting out this situation is to speak with Qweffor. If he's innocent, then he might be able to tell us the name of the real perpetrator."

"And if he's guilty," continued Trouble, "then we'll be able to put him behind bars and fix everyone."

"Exactly. It's a win-win scenario."

"You're forgetting something." Came a voice from behind them. The four spun round in fright. Artemis was sitting quietly in a chair in the corner of the room, face shrouded in shadow. As they watched, he leaned forwards into the light and crossed his arms. "You still don't know how he mesmerized all those fairies. If you manage to get underground, how will you stop him from doing the same to you?"

Trouble thought about this for a moment. "We'll take a demon with us. Either Qwan or No1. Their magic is too powerful to bend under the _mesmer_." He paused for a moment, thinking. "We shall also take the minimum number of officers possible. Then, if anything does go wrong, there will still be someone to help."

"That's all very well commander. But how exactly do you plan to get to Haven? I'm sure you remember what happened when you attempted to get through a shuttle port?"

"I don't know yet mud boy! I need to plan!" the elf snapped back. "Now will everyone except Foaly please get out of here so I can do just that?"

* * *

Holly Short was suiting up. It had been decided less than an hour ago. Only four of them would be travelling by shuttle to Haven. Her, Qwan, Mulch and Birch. Trouble was not happy with this plan, as it did not involve him getting in on the action. Unfortunately, as Foal had pointed out, he was more useful above ground where he wouldn't die.

The reason that Mulch was coming was that he knew almost every secret smuggler's entrance to Haven like the back of his hand. He would be able to direct them to an unguarded route. Not that he was very willing to put himself in harm's way.

"You owe me ten times more than usual, Commander. Not only am I risking life and limb to save the world _yet again_, but there is also the chance that I'll get turned into a brainwashed zombie!"

"Mulch," Foaly sighed for the fiftieth time. "You are going whether you like it or not. Look at it this way. At least if you go, you'll be underground rather than stuck out in the sun."

The dwarf paused mid rant, considering this. "Good point. And it does sound as though you'd be _lost _without me, as usual. Honestly. I don't know how you get anything done when I am not there." he spat into a hairy hand and held it out to the commander. "All right I'll do it."

* * *

_**(I didn't know how many fairies there would be altogether, but Haven has less than ten thousand inhabitants so I guessed… roughly)**_

**My next chapter's almost finished, so it will be up soon. And we're finally getting to the bit I've been dead psyched about writing! Yaay!**

**Please review? How is the story going? What do you think about the Qweffor thing? :)**

**Katy x**


	5. Chapter 5

**If you did, thanks for reviewing, even though it was just a filler ^_^**

**This chapter has some pretty random stuff in it, but my brain's fried, just as I predicted. And when my brain is fried, I tend to ramble :D**

**Disclaimer: I am going to stop putting disclaimers after this chapter, because they are pointless, and you all know that I am not Eoin Colfer and therefore do not own Artemis Fowl**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5: A lack of luck**

**Fowl Manor: Ireland**

Holly found Artemis sitting with his chin in his hands inside the recently emptied security booth. He had obviously offered to keep an eye on Opal, who was currently locked in Holly's old cell.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she entered.

He looked up from the screen, blinking tiredly. "Yes. I was just thinking."

"Well, you tend to do that, Artemis. More than most people."

He smiled wanly and looked back at Opal on the screen. The tiny pixie was currently sprawled languidly on the bed, feet dangling a full thirty centimetres from the floor. She was the quietest she'd been since they'd transferred her from the shuttle.

"What do you think possesses them to do it?" he asked suddenly.

"Who? Do what?" she was confused at the question.

Artemis nodded at Opal, who was now kicking her feet lazily against the side of the bed. "People like her. What possesses them to try for world domination, revenge, things like that?"

Holly looked at him sceptically. "Artemis. You should really know that better than most people, or have you forgotten what _you_ used to be like?"

He sighed. "Holly. I was never like her. I never _actually_ tried for world domination."

"Yes, but I'll bet the thought crossed your mind."

He said nothing, staring broodingly at the screen before completely changing the subject. "One of these days, our luck is going to run out you know."

She sat down in the chair beside him and nudged him. "Is that what all this is about Arty? You're worried about me?" she grinned teasingly.

"I am not! You can take care of yourself."

"Suuure. Anyways, our luck won't run out for a while yet. Between the two of us we've only nearly died what… fifteen times?"

"My latest count is at twenty-eight actually."

Holly was thrown by this piece of information "Really? That's a lot more than I expected.

Artemis nodded. "And that's not even including the time you actually _did_ die."

"What's your point?"

"There isn't one."

"Okay." She fell silent, staring glumly at the screens in front of her. All over the manor, everyone was rushing to and fro, trying to pack as much equipment as possible into the shuttle. She could see Trouble barking orders from the entrance. She didn't know if it was the light, but he seemed quite red in the face. Holly smiled a little. If he didn't watch out, they'd be calling him 'beetroot' next.

Eventually, she got fed up and turned away from the screen, only to find Artemis's face inches from her own.

Artemis leaned his head against hers and stared beseechingly into her eyes. "Holly…"

"Artemis don't," she groaned. Somehow, Holly knew exactly what he was about to ask, and she was also aware that due to these darned newfangled feelings of hers, she would find it impossible to say no.

Sensing this, he leaned in closer and brushed a kiss against her cold lips. "Let me come with you."

"I can't. You know I can't." even in her own ears her voice didn't sound convincing.

"Holly, please… I can help." he kissed her again.

"Fine! Fine! I'll speak to Trouble!"

He leaned back, grinning smugly.

Holly scowled. "You'd better not do this every time you want something Arty. Just because we have… this, it doesn't mean you can wind me round your little finger whenever you want something."

He nodded unconvincingly. "I would never do that! What an idea!"

"Artemis…"

"What?" the human replied, his face a mask of innocence, which somehow only served to make him look sneakier.

She sighed. "Nothing. I'll never win if we start arguing."

"Exactly."

* * *

Holly grimaced as she walked down the corridor. She was making her way to the garage, which currently held the two LEP shuttles and commander Kelp. She burst through the door and the elf looked up in surprise.

"Holly. Nearly ready to leave?" he turned back to the shuttle as he spoke, lifting a box of neutrinos into the hold. When she didn't reply, he turned back round, frowning. "What is it?"

She shuffled uncomfortably. "I think Artemis should be coming."

His frown changed into an incredulous gape. "What? Why?"

"He can help."

"For Frond's sake Holly! He'll stick out like a sore thumb! He stands almost a metre above the tallest fairy!"

"Yeah, but we still won't be inconspicuous without him. What about Qwan? There are only three demon warlocks in existence and it's not exactly a secret that two of them are on our side!"

"Yes, but Artemis is not a soldier. He's a _human teenager_. He'll just slow you down."

"Qwan's not a soldier either."

Trouble sighed. "Yes, but he's an adult. He can make his own decisions."

"Artemis is an adult. He's eighteen now, remember?"

The commander scoffed. "Yeah. Cause that's really old. If he was a fairy he'd still be in diapers."

"Trouble every time we manage to pull off something like this, who has been involved? Artemis. Who makes the best plans? Artemis. Who always manages to get us out of the stickiest situations? Artemis. Who is the smartest person we know? Artemis." Holly paused for a moment, looking slightly guilty. "Don't tell Foaly I said that. He's smart too."

Trouble sighed heavily and looked up at Holly once more, putting down the set of wings he was holding. "He put you up to this didn't he?"

She crossed her arms, trying not to look guilty. "Of course not."

Her commander grinned. "Holly. I have known you for over thirty years now. I can tell when you're lying."

She crossed her arms defensively. "Well, so what if he put me up to it? He has a right to be involved. It's _his_ species we'll be going to war with if we don't stop Qweffor in time."

"Fine!" he groaned, rolling his eyes. "But I am not taking responsibility for whatever happens to him."

"Thank you. And don't worry. I wont let anything happen." She turned to leave, but Trouble caught her by the arm.

"I mean it Holly. He is your responsibility and only yours."

"I know."

* * *

An hour later, Artemis found himself thirty-thousand feet above sea level, clinging to both armrests of his seat for dear life. Beside him, Mulch was in a similar position, though he looked quite a bit greener. "What is that elf playing at?" the dwarf moaned as the shuttle continued to dip and shudder.

Artemis, being Artemis, decided to reply to the rhetorical question. "It's actually not Holly's fault for once. It's the turbulence. The erratic movement of the air masses at this altitude are making the shuttle susceptible."

Mulch scowled, really not in the mood for another lecture from the human. He'd already endured three in the last half-hour and was really beginning to regret his choice of seating. As Artemis droned on, a small idea formed in his head. He began to squirm in his seat.

"What is it?" the human asked.

Mulch clapped a hand to his mouth. "I think I'm gonna…"

"Oh god. Please do not throw up." Artemis fell silent, staring at the dwarf apprehensively. He did not with to become covered with the entire contents of Fowl manor's kitchen.

Mulch took his hand away and grinned. "Aaah. Bliss. You've stopped talking. I suddenly feel much better."

Artemis scowled. "That was uncalled-" as soon as he started talking, Mulch had covered his mouth once more, grinning.

"Oh yes, very mature Mulch." He said sarcastically. He shut up when the dwarf started making gagging sounds.

A couple of minutes of amused and grumpy silence passed before Holly's voice rang out over the shuttle's intercom. "Right, we're over Mallorca. Mulch, you know where we are going so get through here."

The dwarf had directed them to the tiny Spanish island where there was apparently a secret entrance to the chutes. He got up and staggered through to see Holly, bidding Artemis, Qwan and Birch a cheery farewell as he passed.

Holly looked up as Mulch entered. "Right. Where am I going?"

"We need to go to the Lumen caverns."

Holly raised an eyebrow. "The old fairy civilization?"

Mulch nodded and wrinkled his nose. "I think the mud men now call them "The Caves Of Drach."

She immediately set a course for the caves, not even needing to check the navigation equipment. Holly knew this place well, though none of the people (bar smugglers) had actually stepped inside since the days of Frond. It was part of every little fairy's standard history lessons. Lumen city was almost as big in the people's timeline as the battle of Taillte.

Thousands of years ago, when the people inhabited the surface, the dwarfs had still preferred to call the underground their home. Lumen had been one of the largest dwarf cities at the time. It had also been their most magnificent. According to ancient fairy texts, once upon a time every surface of the cave had been covered in tiny crystals and gems. The entire city had sparkled with the reflected sunlight of billions of precious stones, lighting it up as effectively as daylight. Anyone could see that it was a dwarf city, merely by looking at the immense wealth littering the walls, and the delicate craftsmanship that had been used to apply it. There was no other place on earth quite like it, and because of this, a palace had been built, known as the "Palace of Kings". Every king or queen of the people had been crowned there for as long as anyone could remember, each fairy ruler marking the beginning of a new dynasty.

Of course, after the fourth Frond dynasty, the battle with the mud men had begun, and the people had been forced to retreat even deeper underground, mainly to the newly built Atlantis. The crowning tradition had been abandoned and the dwarfs had plucked every emerald and diamond from the sparkling cavern and left the city to crumble away.

Nowadays, the caves were little more than a tourist hotspot. Thousands of lobster-red mud men armed with cameras visited the tavern each year. The entrance to the cave had been transformed into a souvenir shop and restaurant and the majority of the inside had been fenced off by the human authorities to prevent any damage.

Holly landed smoothly in the cover of a grove of olive trees near the gift shop. At the moment, the entrance was completely obscured from their view as a huge crowd of tourists milled about outside, waiting for their tour guide who would escort them round the cave.

Holly sighed. "How are we supposed to get in there?"

Mulch shrugged. "We'll just have to wait till nightfall."

* * *

**11:00pm**

The tourists had long vacated the caves, families heading back to sprawling apartment complexes for some in-house entertainment, whilst the younger generation of holiday-makers swarmed to the many bars and nightclubs that dotted the island, eager to soak up some of the local "culture".

High above, the crescent moon shone down upon a deserted landscape, leeching every drop of colour from the surroundings. The sirocco wind whistled into the cave entrance, blowing up the dusty orange earth and causing a curious echoing sound deep inside. It sounded, Holly thought as she listened to it through the mics, like someone breathing. As soon as she thought that, she immediately wished she hadn't. Her mind began to go into overload. The rustling olive trees overhead no longer appeared harmless. They morphed and transformed before her eyes, becoming swaying arms that battered the walls of the shuttle, trying to claw their way inside. The jagged cave entrance became a gaping mouth, waiting to swallow them whole. She shook her head roughly. Her imagination was going into overload as she entered that heightened state that came with over-exhaustion. When had she last slept? Almost two days ago now. Gripping the controls tightly, she inched out of the tree cover and edged sneakily towards the cave mouth, engines making scarcely a sound. It was very narrow, and Holly had to actually flip the shuttle onto its side to fit through the opening. A few loose rocks were scraped from the walls as they passed, but the shuttle remained unscathed. Within seconds, the darkness swallowed them up and Holly had to switch on the tunnel beams.

"We're in!" she hissed.

There were sounds of approval from the rear of the shuttle as she slowly navigated her way down the narrow tunnel. Eventually, after some close shaves with the wall and one with the ceiling, Holly negotiated a route out into a larger cavern. There were no signs of life on the monitors.

"Mulch!" she was still speaking in a whisper, though she didn't know why. Maybe it was just the creepiness of the place. The dwarf came through, also looking a bit more subdued than usual.

"I hate this cave. It gives me the creeps," he shuddered, looking out the window.

Holly tried her best to hide the fact that for once, she wholeheartedly agreed with her friend. "Which way do I go now?"

Mulch unwillingly turned his eyes back to the window. The headlights illuminated the expanse of cave in front of them. Stalagmites and stalactites hung dripping from the ceiling and floor, but there was no tunnel for them to get elsewhere.

"Turn the shuttle slowly." He commanded.

Holly did as she was told, slowly rotating them. When they had turned almost a full circle, Mulch straightened up and pointed. "There!" just visible behind a twisted mound of rock, there was another passage leading away from the cavern they were in. "Go that way."

Holly obediently piloted the shuttle down the tunnel. Thankfully, it was not as narrow as the first, and she made it through without any major issues. They were now in a much larger opening. The lights didn't even reach the far side. Down below them was a pitch-black lake. It hung there, smooth as glass. As they neared it, the shuttle engines sent a single ripple slithering across its surface. Holly gave another involuntary shiver at the icy water.

"Where now?"

Mulch pointed at the lake. "Through there. If you keep going straight on, there should be an opening into a new cavern about a hundred metres from where we are now."

Holly braced herself and turned the shuttle downwards. Without hesitation, she plunged into the black water. All the travellers were now silent, regarding the scene outside the windows with a sort of terrified curiosity.

Back in the passenger area, even Artemis was affected. He couldn't remember the last time something had made him feel this uneasy. Something about the crystal clear water disturbed him deeply. Suddenly, a small shoal of fish appeared in the tunnel beams. As soon as they processed the lack of darkness, they scattered, but not before Artemis registered the pale white skin or the blind sunken eyes, covered in a milky film. '_Amblyopsidae, or cavefish. A perfect example of recessive evolution.'_ He shuddered and looked away. For some reason, the knowledge that there was life down here only disturbed him further.

Far later than any of them would have liked, Holly resurfaced and they found themselves in yet another cavern. This time however, there was a slight difference. On the far wall, a single yellow light flickered in the darkness, illuminating an ancient pair of open blast doors. The entrance to the chutes. Seeing the familiar sight seemed to motivate Holly, and she thrust the shuttle forwards, eager to get out of this place as soon as possible. They made it into the chute without bother, though she did not slow down until they had put at least four or five miles between her and that creepy cave.

Beside her, Mulch sighed in relief, repeating his earlier words. "I hate that cave."

Holly nodded. "Little wonder it's so run down. If I was a smuggler, I would not set foot near a place like that."

Mulch looked at her. "That's the point. Most smugglers won't go near there. I figured, since the entire Lower Elements have been mesmerized, so would the criminals. They might think to block some of the more popular smugglers routes. Only…" he counted on his fingers. "Five of us know about that entrance. And only the dwarfs will use it. So really, it's just me and my cousin Nord."

"Why?"

"Most fairies think it's cursed. Everyone who goes through there always seems to end up with really crappy luck afterwards."

"What about you?"

Mulch grinned. "I'm a dwarf. My species is hardly going to put a curse on their own kind, are they?"

Holly rolled her eyes. Great. So now, an imaginary curse was going to give everyone bad luck just when they least needed it. "There had better not be a grain of truth in that Mulch."

"Of course not. Only if you're superstitious." He winked and left Holly to silently freak out. Honestly, she really should be getting more sleep.

* * *

They reached the outskirts of Haven a couple of hours later. Holly had been hesitant to drive too fast in case any sensors did pick them up, so they were now behind schedule.

"I'm going to try and take us in to the abandoned shuttle port at E37. It's only a couple of miles from police plaza." She called through the mikes. The travellers just nodded. Tension was now filling the room at the thought of the next part of the plan. Somehow, they had to walk on foot to the LEP headquarters and stop an apparently insane demon warlock from taking over the world. All whilst remaining completely unseen. This could be difficult considering that their group consisted of an elf, a gnome, a dwarf, a demon warlock and a human.

They stopped and climbed out. Holly locked the shuttle with a swipe of her LEP badge and glanced about. As always, the shuttle port was deserted. But still… someone could come snooping whilst they were away.

"Is there anything we can use to hide the shuttle?"

The others glanced around. All they could see was a few rocks and some grey foam, which _still _hadn't been cleared up from the "Arctic Incident" movie so many years ago.

"Nothing."

Holly shrugged. "Hopefully we'll be back before anyone notices it." she set off towards the exit to Haven and the others trailed behind.

Poking her head outside, Holly took a deep breath of recycled air and wrinkled her nose. She'd been almost constantly on the surface for over a week now and the stale air felt almost clingy.

The sim-moon was up and there was no one about on the streets so she waved them forwards, leading the way silently down the empty street. They continued this way until they reached the built up centre of Haven. Here, the bars and nightclubs meant it was slightly busier, and they had to stop and hide from drunken passers-by several times.

After their third time of being shoved down a slimy back alley by the two LEP soldiers, even Qwan was beginning to grumble. In his haste, Birch had accidentally bundled him into a group of swear toads, which of course, being swear toads, immediately began croaking strings of profanities at the elderly warlock. He scowled at a particularly imaginative male, who was obviously trying to show off to the females of the group.

"D'arvit yourself." He hissed back at it, sending a small crackle of magic down his finger and into the unfortunate toad's behind. It gave out a surprisingly high-pitched croak and hopped away offendedly. The other toads followed. Qwan scowled at the retreating animals. "Honestly," he grumbled. "Whoever invented those things needs their brains seen to." He headed back out of the alleyway only to stop in surprise. There in front of them, was a large town square. And on the opposite side, was police plaza.

"Hey! We're there!" cried Mulch, stepping out behind Qwan. "This has got to be the only time I have ever been happy to see this place."

The group hurried forwards, Holly in the lead once more. When they were only halfway across the wide square however, things began to go wrong. Holly was the one who noticed it first. She stopped in the centre, and raised her fist in the universal sign for "halt". Artemis nearly walked into her. Ears twitching and eyes narrowed, she looked around the deserted space. "What was that?"

The others merely looked around with puzzled expressions, not having heard anything. Two seconds later, a flash of blue light whizzed past Mulch's ear, ricocheting off the concrete pavement. He leapt three feet into the air, which, for a fairy, was a pretty impressive height.

The first blue light was immediately followed by ten more. They seemed to be coming from the tops of the buildings around the square.

"We're under fire!" yelled Birch. "Take cover!" they turned and ran back the way they came, but another volley of laser bursts stopped them in their tracks.

"They were expecting us!" Holly yelled, skidding this way and that as she tried to make herself as small a target as possible for the snipers on the roofs. It didn't help. The female elf was hit first and crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Artemis was hit next, unsurprisingly. His height gave the invisible enemy an unfair advantage. Then, Qwan fell. Then Birch. Mulch, who had had a fair bit of practice avoiding LEP weaponry, was the last standing, but even the quick-footed ex-con couldn't avoid a near-constant rain of neutrino bursts. He was hit in the back, and fell.

The shower of lasers stopped and the mesmerized LEP officers put down their weapons before heading serenely back through the roof entrance and into the plaza.

In the centre of the square, the five unconscious allies did not stir as a dark shadow glided across the concrete. It stopped directly in front of them, the shadow overlapping both Qwan and Holly's unconscious bodies.

The owner of the shadow put his hands on his hips and looked down, inspecting the intruders. He smiled.

"Well well well, what have we here?"

* * *

**Was it good? It had better be because I am avoiding my maths homework to write this ;)**

**Also, I realised that I had kind of forgotten that this fic was supposed to be A/H, so I will be attempting more of that now I think. Ugh. It's really hard to write.**

**I have decided to start replying to reviews, so go on! Be the first to review and you will be my first ever reply!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry that this took ages to get written! I am seriously running out of time in a day! Stupid exam revision. Stupid maths. Stupid prelims. Stupid school.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5: old opponents**

**Police Plaza: Haven, the Lower Elements**

Holly Short woke with a jerk, eyes flying open only to be confronted by suffocating darkness. For a moment, she feared she had gone blind, then she blinked and a slight pressure on her eyelids made her register the material covering her face. A blindfold? She tried to reach up to pull it off but her hands wouldn't budge. They seemed to be bound behind her back with some kind of cord. When she pulled, it dug into her wrists painfully. She struggled to heave herself into a sitting position and eventually managed.

"Artemis?" she called out tentatively. Holly knew it was stupid to alert her captors to the fact that she was conscious but she had to know if she was alone. Had the others made it or was she the only one left? "Qwan? Mulch? Birch?" for a few moments, there was no answer and Holly feared the worst. Then:

"Mmph." There was a shuffling sound and she felt something brush past her elbow.

"Who's that?"

"It's me." The voice belonged to Artemis. There was more scrabbling as he presumably sat up.

"Where are we?" she asked, despite knowing full well that Artemis would not have a clue, due to him probably also being blindfolded, and the fact that he did not know police plaza very well, having only been inside a couple of times.

"Well, my first thought was that we'd be taken to a holding cell, but obviously not, as these floors are carpeted. I am presuming that they have instead taken us to a conference room of sorts. It smells a bit stale, like human conference rooms. They aren't used all that often so they tend to grow slightly musty. There is another smell as well, but I can't quite tell what it is."

Holly rolled her eyes behind her blindfold. Only Artemis would be able to figure out their location simply by smelling the _air_. "We must be in the council meeting room. You know, the one where you saw Cahartez and Qweffor on the security cameras."

"That seems fairly likely."

A groan came suddenly from somewhere on Holly's right, interrupting their pointless theorising.

"Mulch? Is that you?" Artemis asked from Holly's left.

Another groan. "Who else would it be mud boy? There was more shuffling. "Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds from your _riveting_ conversation but where's Qwan? And Birch for that matter?"

Holly ignored the jibe and climbed onto her knees. "Qwan? Birch?" she called. "Are you there?" There was no reply. "Do you think they're still unconscious?" she asked the others.

"Listen for breathing." Artemis suggested.

They all fell silent for a few seconds. There was not a sound. Eventually, Holly had to exhale. She did so with a 'huff' and began to crawl along on her knees, hands still bound behind her back. She had been hoping to bump into either the gnome or the demon warlock but only succeeded in falling over Mulch, who was still lying on the floor.

"Ouch! Watch it Holly!"

"Sorry." She tried to get up but before she could manage, the sound of a key card being inserted into a door made her freeze. Someone was coming in. slowly, the door hissed open.

"Who's there?" Artemis said loudly from behind her. "I suggest that you release us immediately, you don't know who you're dealing with." There was no reply. "or perhaps," the teenager continued calmly, "you _do_ know who you are dealing with and you are just too stupid to realise how dangerous we are."

"Artemis." Holly hissed from the side of her mouth. "Don't antagonise the person who has us tied up and blindfolded, _please_."

There was the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. Holly stiffened, bracing herself for any possible impact. But they passed; carrying on to where she knew Artemis was lying. The sound stopped but was quickly followed by a thud and an "Ooof!" and a cough from the human. It sounded like he'd been kicked.

"Silence human scum!"

Holly stiffened. What was going on? She finally managed to pull herself off of Mulch and turned towards the growling voice. "Who are you?"

The footsteps now headed in her direction, and Holly found her muscles tightening once more as she anticipated an impact. Surprisingly, it never came. Instead, she felt the blindfold being pulled roughly from her eyes. Blinking suddenly in the harsh artificial light, she looked around. They were indeed in the council meeting room. Holly would recognise it anywhere. She now recognised the unidentified smell as a faint odour of vole curry, the fairy council's favourite snack. Close to where she sat, Artemis was lying on the floor still doubled up with pain. His blindfold lay beside him. The newcomer must have removed it before coming to her. Mulch was right beside her, also blindfold-free. Holly finally looked all the way up into the face of her capturer. It was, of course, Qweffor. Though she was surprised at the expression on his face. It wasn't one that she had ever seen the usually cheerful warlock wear before. Pure, unadulterated hatred now contorted every feature. His eyes were screwed up so small and angry, she could barely see them, the mouth was open in a silent snarl and his runes glowed a fierce red. She had never seen anyone look so unhinged. Not even Opal, and _that_ was saying something.

"Qweffor?" she whispered, looking for some sign that the warlock recognised her. None came. Instead, the only response was an animalistic growl.

"Stupid elf. My name is not Qweffor. _I_ am Leon Abbot. _I_ am the great and glorious ruler of the earth. _I_ am the hero who will finally stand against all humanity. _I_ will rid the planet of their filth once and for all. And the people shall kneel before me, in awe of my power."

Silence filled the room following this disturbing speech. No one seemed to know quite what to say to counteract the sheer stupidity of Abbot's statement.

"…But you're a guinea pig!" this came from Mulch.

The demon turned his furious gaze to the dwarf. "_Clearly_ I am not anymore."

"But-but- how is this possible?" spluttered Holly.

Abbot gave a nasty grin. "Well, its really all thanks to the runt and his _mentor." _He spat the last word out derisively, as though being mentor to the most powerful demon warlock to ever have existed was an unworthy occupation.

"No1 and Qwan?"

"Yes. Them. They were practising some sort of spell near my cage and one happened to backfire. The demon Qweffor was nearby at the time and I stole my body back." He grinned inanely as though he had done a very clever thing. "No-one noticed the difference."

Holly groaned. Gods. This was all they needed. An insane power-hungry demon in control of the entire fairy population.

And not just that, this was the same megalomaniac who had previously attempted to lead his species on a war against the humans, a war which would have led to the extinction of the entire eighth family. And now he was trying to do it again. "Are you going to mesmerize us too?" she asked.

Abbot appeared to consider the question for a moment. "I suppose I should. I need the numbers for my new army. The mud-scum will be killed of course." He turned to Artemis, grinning nastily. "Fowl. I have wanted to do this for such a long time." he began to advance at a snails pace. "The first death of the inter-species war. Quite an honour really."

Already back on his knees, Artemis shuffled backwards across the blue carpet, only stopping when his back hit the solid wall. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not die."

"Sorry. No choice." Abbot growled and pounced on the mud boy at the exact same moment that the door was blown apart from its hinges.

BOOM!

Shards of metal and glass flew everywhere, some even embedding themselves in the wall inches from Artemis's ear. Holly and Mulch had dived to the floor when they had heard the explosion. Abbot was not so lucky. He was hit full on by a large piece of door. It propelled the huge demon into the wall where he sank down to the floor, unconscious.

Holly, coughing, peered through the settling dust to get a glimpse of their saviour. It was Qwan.

"Thank Frond you came when you did Qwan!" she called, ears still ringing from the blast. The warlock stepped through the ruined doorway and brushed himself down. Behind him, they could see a large number of unconscious LEP soldiers. Apparently, the warlock had taken them all on his own. Holly was impressed.

"Is everyone alright?" Qwan asked calmly.

They nodded. "You knocked out Abbot." Wheezed Artemis from the corner. He still sounded a little winded.

"Good." Qwan looked at the ex-pride leader in disgust. "He must have gotten in the way when we were practising body-transferrant spells last week. Come to think of it, I remember thinking Qweffor looked slightly odd after that." He crossed over to Holly and untied her hands then moved across to Mulch to do the same. Holly stood up, rubbing her wrists. Then she went to untie Artemis.

"Are you okay?" she whispered in his ear as he stretched his arms.

"I am fine, he didn't kick me that hard."

She smiled and helped the human to his feet. "Good."

Artemis turned to Qwan, straightening his dusty shirt. "Can you reverse the _Mesmer_ and bring back Qweffor?"

The warlock nodded. "Piece of cake. I'll just need to find out how he managed to mesmerize them all at once. I'll get rid of N'zall first though. We don't want him mucking up anything else."

He crossed over to the unconscious Abbot and placed his hands on his horns, muttering a few choice words about "stupid demon traitors" as he did do. Artemis, Holly and Mulch watched as blue sparks began to travel down Qwan's arms and into Abbot. They were a slow trickle at first, but quickly became a raging torrent of magic. This process continued on for almost a minute before Qwan frowned. "It shouldn't be taking this long."

Beside Holly, Artemis leaned forwards. "Maybe you should-" all of a sudden, there was yet another almighty explosion.

This blast was so loud that Holly could feel her eardrums actually burst. "Owww!" she yelled, thought she didn't hear a thing.

The air around her became a maelstrom of yellow and red, though strangely, it didn't seem to burn her. "What's going on!" she shouted, still unable to hear herself.

She couldn't see anything; it was just a mass of colour interspersed with random blue sparks. Slowly, Holly became aware of the others' consciousnesses around her. There was Mulch, wondering what-in-the-name-of anything mud-covered was going on, and Artemis, pondering whether or not this strange development was anything to do with the time stream, and if Qwan had in fact done this intentionally. Actually, Holly thought, he had a point. This did remind her of the time stream, though a good deal more violent.

She became aware of another consciousness then; Qwan, who appeared to be moderately alarmed. Apparently, this was definitely not supposed to happen.

The warlock noticed her probing and sent out a thought to her.

To Holly's surprise, as well as hearing the thought, it also appeared in her peripheral vision as a colour, a bright unsettling purple that screamed panic.

"_It's Abbot! He's somehow triggered a portal to the time stream!"_

Ah. So it hadn't been as simple as she'd first thought.

"_How could he do that! He's unconscious!"_ Holly yelled through her mind. The thought was sent back to Qwan in a bubble of orange, sparks of purple scattered throughout. It mirrored her confusion and fear perfectly.

"_Wrong again elf!"_ came another thought. This one swirled with malice, turning the edges black.

"_Abbot!"_ four people mentally yelled in shock.

"_Well obviously"_ if he'd been in possession of a body at that moment, the ex-pride leader would be rolling his eyes at their total idiocy. Which was saying something, considering that he was not that smart himself.

* * *

**Yeah, you guys probably all saw the Abbot thing coming. I couldn't resist, he's too fun to write!**

**I promise that I will try really really hard to get the next chapter up in my usual time slot (i.e. a week) but I can't guarantee it will happen. Blame my stupid school, not me :)**

**In the meantime, please review, it will still help me to get the next bit written faster. Motivation is always good ^_^**

**Dun Dun Dun! They're in the time tunnel! Where do you think they will end up next? I'd quite like to hear your theories, to see if anyone can guess.**

**~Katy x**


	7. Chapter 7

**Helleooo everyone. I'm only 2 days late in updating, which isn't too bad, right? right?**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 7: Shadows on the floor**

**The time tunnel: outside known dimensional space**

"_Artemis! Holly!"_ Qwan's mind called out to them. _"You've been in the time stream before. Do you remember what you had to do to land Hybras?"_

"_Yes,"_ they answered simultaneously, their combined thoughts taking on a calm shade of blue. They had done this before; they would be fine.

"_Good,"_ came Qwan's thoughts, _"because you are both going to have to do it again. Holly, feel your way to Haven, and Artemis, remember your time, all right?"_

"_All right." _

Qwan's mind changed colour, back to the slightly panicked yellow from earlier. _"There is one problem. This is the fourth time you have been in here, and that is not good. You are going to have to concentrate hard if you want to keep your bodies in one piece. I know No1 bolstered your atoms, but that may not be enough. Time travel for non-demons is treacherous at the best of times, never mind when we've got a deranged megalomaniac in tow."_

"_Who are you calling deranged you old fool!" bellowed Abbot in their minds. The air immediately turned a furious red. "I managed to bring you here, didn't I? I have learnt a few things from section 8 in my imprisonment, and I know how to stop you from getting home!"_ he began to laugh evilly. "_None of you will make it out of here alive, and there's nothing anchoring you to any dimension! You are all mine!" _the dark consciousness began to move towards Qwan, sucking in tendrils of magic as it went. _"Without Qwan, you three are powerless. He is the only one who can direct your magic."_

"_Hoi! Don't you dare! I am not getting stuck here!" _came a new voice, turning the air near the swirling red nebula to a muddy brown. It was, of course, Mulch. _"Get away!" _the brown began to pull against the red, dragging it away from Qwan's consciousness, which was slowly turning purple once more.

The warlock quickly directed his thoughts towards Artemis and Holly._ "You two! Think of home now! There's no more time, I can already feel you'r atomic structure breaking up."_

Artemis and Holly did as they were told, picturing their time and place exactly._ "Good. Now…" _A blue burst of magic radiated outwards from the purple cloud that represented Qwan, engulfing every one of them. Artemis and Holly both felt the irresistible pull of their own time calling, and directed themselves towards it.

Artemis was concentrating particularly hard; he did not want to arrive home three years too late again. As they neared his time, he suddenly felt a sort of snap, like a string of elastic had been broken._ "What was that?"_

"_I don't know, but I felt it too," _came Holly from beside him.

They didn't have much time to ponder this for the next moment, they were whirled into their own timeline and forcibly ejected into the universe once more.

* * *

Returning to a single body is never a pleasant experience for time travellers; it tends to leave one slightly disoriented and with an intense sensation of loss. The feeling of shared consciousness just seems right. There's no other way to describe it. But when you are forced out into the real world again, it is almost painful.

When he had materialised back on earth and recovered enough to look up, Artemis found himself face to face with a pair of bulbous yellow eyes. He blinked, surprised, as the creature came into focus. The eyes appeared to belong to an upside-down toad. As they regarded each other, the toad cocked its head to one side, opened its mouth and croaked out a puzzled-sounding "D'arvit!" before hopping away across the carpeted ceiling.

Wait, a carpeted ceiling?

Artemis blinked again and tried to lift his head. As he shifted, two things happened almost simultaneously; one: he realised that it was _him_ that was upside down and not the toad, and two: he collapsed to the floor in a heap. He had been leaning upside down against the wall in a rather undignified position for Artemis Fowl.

Groaning slightly at the head rush that came from being the right way up, he clambered to his knees and tried to counteract the spinning sensation in his head by clamping his hands down over his ears. It didn't really help. He still seemed to be a little out of sync with the 'real' world. Slowly, his vision began to clear and the room stopped moving. Artemis was back in the council meeting room in Police Plaza by the looks of things. Yes, there was the hole in the wall where Qwan had blasted through; chunks of rubble still littered the room, dust transforming the majority of the carpeting from its usual blue to a dull grey.

The warlock however, was nowhere to be seen. Nor was Mulch, or Birch, or… oh no, there was Holly. She was sprawled under a table not too far from where Artemis himself had materialised. She appeared have just regained consciousness, for there was a great deal of groaning as she slowly resumed control over her limbs and began to manoeuvre her way out from beneath the desk. Once she had accomplished this, the elf sat up and looked accusingly at Artemis.

"Where are the others?"

He looked around unnecessarily. "I don't know."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Give a wild guess. Your guesses usually prove to be right."

Artemis slowly hauled himself to his feet, grabbing onto a chair for support. "I would guess that they somehow got cut off from us in the time stream. That elastic sensation we both felt, it was possibly something to do with that."

Holly nodded. "That seems likely. It was probably Abbot that did it." she gritted her teeth angrily. "That demon is a whole lot more trouble than he's worth."

"If they were indeed thrown off into the time stream at the point of rematerialization, they could have ended up anywhere." Artemis mused, trying not to let his worry show in his voice. "We were the ones controlling the 'when' and the 'where'."

"So Mulch and Qwan are stuck. Great. What happened to Birch?" she asked.

"He never entered the time stream. Presumably, if we are indeed in the right time, he should be here somewhere."

Holly looked around, as though expecting the officer to suddenly pop up out of the ground. "He's not."

"I can see that. I suggest that the first thing we do is check that we actually are in the right time." he strode over to the computer in the corner, pressing the 'on' button. Nothing happened. "What?" he glanced at the blank screen. "There doesn't seem to be any power."

"The lights are on."

"Emergency back up?" he suggested. "It's not unprecedented. When I accidentally pinged you with the C-cube, you still had _some_ power, did you not?."

She nodded. "It keeps the emergency services running." Holly paused, her eyes going wide. "Hold on… a city-wide lockdown? Something must be going on here. How long have we been away for? You don't think Trouble and the others have tried to come after us, do you?" she jumped to her feet and sprinted from the room, vaulting over the pile of rubble effortlessly and careering down the corridor beyond.

"Holly! Wait!" Artemis yelled, stumbling after her.

* * *

He finally caught up to the elf outside the Ops booth. The interior of Foaly's favourite playground was, of course, pitch black. Nothing was running. This was only to be expected, as the centaur himself had shut it down from Fowl Manor to stop the mesmerised fairies from accessing anything to help them.

Holly was bent over a simple technician's nuclear powered digi-pad, running a finger down the touch screen. Suddenly, she stopped and looked up in alarm. "What date was it when we got to Haven?"

Artemis answered automatically. "It was the 22nd of December."

Holly paled. "Artemis! We've been gone a year and a half!"

He shrugged. "Considering we didn't even have a warlock with us for the last part, I would say that was still pretty impressive." Though he sounded remarkably unfazed, inside Artemis was reeling. One and a half years. His family hadn't seen him for one and a half years. Once again, he had disappeared off the face of the earth without telling anyone. He thought of his mother and cringed inwardly.

Holly glared at him. "No, it's not. Artemis, we were on the brink of a war when we left, who knows what could have happened?"

"…Sorry."

"It's not your fault." She turned back to the screen, bringing up a page of statistics. "This digi-pad hasn't been used for four months."

Artemis frowned. "That's unusual." Then he looked around. "Holly…"

The elf looked up. "What?"

"It's very quiet in here."

"And?"

"Well, this is the centre of police plaza. Would you not expect someone to be working here? Either the mesmerised fairies or the normal fairies?"

Holly looked around, fully taking in what he had just said. "it's been a whole year since we left…"

"Exactly. Something is wrong here."

Holly leapt to her feet and took off again, running this time for the entrance to the plaza. Artemis followed resignedly. He thought he had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

* * *

Holly yanked the broken automatic doors open with both hands, bursting out onto the top step of the plaza. Below her, the city square extended outwards for roughly fifty metres. She began to descend the shallow steps slowly, taking care not to trip over her feet in the dim half-light. It was awfully quiet. Holly squinted. The fountains were switched off. Without the familiar cheerful splashing sounds, or the usual crowd of tourists milling about, this place was pretty creepy. She continued down the steps a little faster, willing her eyes to adjust to the darkness in the city. When they finally did, she stopped walking. And froze. Her mouth fell open in horror at what she saw.

Haven was no longer there.

Well, technically it was still there, but it was in ruins. The weak emergency lighting dimly illuminated the 'skyline', casting dark shadows into some areas and throwing others into horrendous relief.

As far as the eye could see, Haven was a vast mound of charred and blackened rubble. Here and there, burnt skeletons of buildings still stood, reaching lopsidedly for the cavern roof, as though desperate to escape the awful carnage that surrounded them. Pieces of timber jutted out from buildings. They stuck out in unnatural directions, seeming to Holly like a multitude of fractured limbs.

Across the square, Haven's celebrated library was in ruins, pages of ancient books fluttering across the paving in a non-existent breeze. A huge, jagged hole had been carved through the library, so Holly could see all the way through to the other side, where Haven's market district was overturned. All the greatest buildings in the city, gone.

Holly felt Artemis come up behind her, but did not turn. Her gaze was fixed on the monstrosity before her; she could not tear her eyes away. She didn't realise she was shaking until Artemis put his hands on her shoulders, stilling the tremors that racked through her body.

"Who could have done this?" she whispered, watching the path of a swear toad as it hopped lazily past the bottom step of the plaza entrance, it let out a fairly harsh profanity, mirroring exactly what Holly wanted to scream.

Artemis slowly knelt down and cupped a hand to her cheek. Gently, he turned her face away from the horror stretched out before them, before pulling her into a tight hug, hiding the view from her. Holly accepted the small comfort gratefully. She didn't want to see it.

She lost track of how long they silently stood for, Artemis quelling the hysteria that threatened to engulf Holly at the loss of her home. Sure, like every fairy she loved the surface, but Haven was the only place where the people could feel truly safe, and somehow, it had been destroyed. Where would the people go now? A thought struck her. Suddenly, she jerked her head away from the human.

"The people!"

He looked up at her concernedly. "What?"

"We need to find out where they have gone! We need to get to Atlantis! Find help!" she pulled away from him, ready to jump into action. She was a typical soldier; she needed action. She needed to do something about the atrocity before her. And, ever the optimist, she had assumed that Atlantis, being the next- largest fairy city, would be where the people had evacuated to when this unknown disaster struck.

Unfortunately for Artemis, he did not have this coping mechanism, and had already figured out what had happened here. "Holly…" he said whilst shifting slightly, unsure how to tell her.

It turned out he didn't have to. Holly was distracted by a small dark shadow on the ground beside where she stood. There were more dotted around the square. She bent down for a closer inspection. "What is this?" she stretched out a trembling arm and touched it. Some of the black substance came away when she removed her hand. It had a chalky texture, a bit like charcoal. She looked back down at the shape. It was roughly a metre long, and almost humanoid in profile. "Artemis…" she looked up at the human, who was now standing, hovering over her with an apprehensive expression on his face, waiting for her to make the connection. Holly looked back down at the shadow, and her eyes widened as she finally comprehended what it was.

For almost a minute, she didn't move.

Her lips were silently mouthing, trying to find the words she didn't want to say. "That's a f-fairy." she looked up at Artemis, willing him to contradict her. When he stayed silent, she blanched and let out a low, keening wail and stood up, violently shaking once more. "They're dead!" Holly looked out across the square, at the newly-identified black smudges that she now noticed appeared every few metres. "All of them!"

* * *

**It looks like someone has wiped out the denizens of Haven. Who is behind this horrific tragedy? How did they manage it? What will Holly and Artemis do? Where are Qwan, Mulch and Abbot? All answers will be revealed in the next instalment! Or at least some of the answers ;D**

**Once again, I would like to hear your theories. Some of you have gotten very close in reviews. In fact, one person (I won't say who) guessed what I had originally planned for this fic.**

**~Katy x **


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry that this one's pretty short, but I've written the next chapter and it just needs edited so it should be up tomorrow. Yeah… I have a lot of spare time on my hands as I am now officially in the middle of my exams, on study leave, when I should be studying. But of course writing this seemed a lot more fun, so… enjoy! ;) **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 8: beyond reason**

**Outside police plaza: Haven**

Artemis was unsure of how to respond. His experience of distraught women was extremely limited. In fact, the only female that he could recall ever breaking down in his presence was his own mother when Artemis senior had disappeared, and he hadn't handled that too well; deciding that the only way to cure her depression was to bring his father back. This of course, had eventually led to the Fowl manor siege. Somehow, he didn't think kidnapping a fairy would particularly appease the elfin captain. Fortunately, his comfort was not required at that moment for Holly unexpectedly decided to spring into action.

"We need to find out what happened here." The elf said, voice still shaking a little though she stubbornly ignored that fact and marched across the square towards the ruined library with grim determination.

"Where are you going?" he asked, hurrying to catch up to her.

She did not look up, but lengthened her strides as she replied. "There has to be some survivors. There is no way everyone could be…"

"Dead?"

She nodded, eyes growing moist once more. Elves were highly emotional creatures by nature and this carnage was almost too much for Holly to handle. "There must be somebody here. Someone who can tell us what has happened." they had reached the library now, and Holly was standing directly in front of the huge hole, peering through to the deserted market district beyond.

Artemis came to stand beside her, carefully skirting round yet another charred shadow on the pavement. "Would it not be better to see if we can get anything technological running rather than blundering off into a possible trap? Whoever is responsible for this could still be here."

"Well, what do you want to do?" she asked shortly, crossing her arms and glaring up at him.

"I suggest we go back to Police Plaza and try to get Foaly's database up and running. We might be able to patch a communications through to Atlantis."

She sighed, clearly needing some sort of action to clear her mind. "Right, fine. We'll split up. You stay here and do that, I'll go check for survivors."

"What if you're ambushed?"

"Well, if I _am_ ambushed, I am more likely to get away without you tagging along, no offence intended."

"Good point." He glanced at her conspicuously empty neutrino holster. "At least take some form of weapon with you."

Holly nodded and looked around. Not two metres away, beside another charcoal shadow, a discarded old-fashioned neutrino lay wedged in a pile of rubble. She strode over and yanked it out, firing a quick blast into the air to check that it worked. "This will do." she began to climb over the rubble in the library, heading for the marketplace beyond. "I'll meet you in the Plaza in three hours, right?"

Artemis nodded. "Okay. Be careful." He paused. "Oh, and Holly?"

She turned to face him one last time. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry about all this."

The elf sniffed and nodded grimly, before turning and quickly clambering out of sight.

* * *

**3 hours later:**

Back at the plaza, Artemis had managed to unlock most of the basic functions of the technical office. He had been unable to get any sort of access to the Ops booth, due to Foaly's incredible paranoia, but he had rigged up a few computer systems and returned power to the building before directing a large chunk of it to the cavern's sun strips to help Holly in her quest. He was trying to set up communications with Atlantis at the moment but was not achieving much. Every signal he sent was met with a big red 'access denied' pop up notice. Eventually, Artemis tired of his and decided to hack into the Atlantean system instead. This was met with a little more success. He soon had access to the security systems in Atlantis city, but no communications. Nevertheless, he activated one of the cameras near the subterranean shuttle port, and then slammed his fist down on the keyboard in frustration. It wasn't working. The screen was just showing up black.

Artemis leaned back in his seat for a moment, eyes glazing over with exhaustion as he watched the empty screen. What was wrong? All the readouts said that the camera was broadcasting perfectly, yet he could see nothing.

All of a sudden, he jerked backwards in fright. An alarming set of luminous razor sharp teeth filled the screen. What on earth was that? He peered forwards as the teeth turned and floated backwards, illuminating the dim surroundings for a moment. He could see the edge of a desk on the screen for a second before the teeth moved too far away and the screen darkened once more. Of course! The camera was working, there was just no light! Artemis flicked a few more switches, activating the emergency lighting for Atlantis. As he watched, a strange scene shimmered into view. He was looking at an office, but it was distorted, almost as though it was rippling in the air. And the illumination seemed to be turning things a slight green colour. Artemis leaned in closer, trying to get a better look. It was then that he noticed the creature whose teeth had filled the screen a moment ago; it was an anglerfish. As he stared in shock, it swam out of view, leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake. Then, onto the screen drifted something even more sinister, a shark. It glided menacingly through the water, keeping out of the way of the lights before drifting slowly past the desk. The water displacement fluttered the few pieces of paper that were still intact and they floated upwards before disintegrating in the water.

Artemis sat back in shock. Atlantis had flooded.

* * *

It was twenty minutes later that Holly finally returned to find an ashen-faced Artemis Fowl waiting for her.

"What is it?" she immediately asked, forgetting her own sorrow for a moment and looking the nervous human up and down.

He shook his head. "You go first."

She looked at the dusty floor, voice raising an octave when she finally answered. "I searched all over the city. There's no one left. Everywhere I looked there were those shadows. There's places where there are so many you can't even see the ground for black dust." She shuddered, hoping against hope that Artemis might have even _a little _good news for her. She glanced up and this hope was immediately squashed by the expression on his face. "…What did you find?" she whispered, afraid of the answer.

He shifted uncomfortably. "I tried to get through to Atlantis but I couldn't contact them so I hacked into their security cameras. The dome has burst. Atlantis has flooded."

Holly didn't seem as upset as he'd envisioned. "Atlantis has a pretty good evacuation system, and most of them can swim. There will be survivors."

"Holly, there aren't. The dome didn't just spring a leak like last time. It all caved in at once. Someone hit it with about two-dozen nuclear missiles. Nobody could survive that amount of water flooding in, or the massive change in pressure. It's just not possible. I'm sorry."

Holly didn't say anything for a few moments, letting herself silently reel from the news. Artemis didn't give her much time to recover when he sprung the next piece of information on her.

"It gets worse. After this, I hacked into the fairy security databases over the last year and a half. I know what happened here."

"Tell me." Holly whispered, hands clenching together as she braced herself for something unthinkable.

"Well, Abbot obviously got out of the time stream somehow, though I don't know about Mulch and Qwan. Abbot got back two days after we went in. from there, he continued assembling the mesmerised fairies for battle with the humans. Naturally, Trouble and the others wondered what had happened to us so they sent down a search party. Trouble, Vein and Grimble came down the same way we did but Abbot intercepted them and took them captive. He apparently mesmerised them because Trouble helped lead the attack on the surface."

Holly turned white. "Attack on the surface? You mean…"

"Yes. They began a war with the humans." He sighed heavily, not wanting to tell Holly the rest of what happened for fear of how she would react. "After that, there are only about two weeks worth of LEP records before they stop abruptly. I had to investigate human government sites for the rest of the information. Apparently, Abbot sent a warning to the president of the united states announcing the existence of the people, who would destroy all human life."

Holly growled at the demon's stupidity. "The idiot! Humans are the most warlike creatures on the planet and he practically invites them to battle!" This changed everything. The humans knew about the people. "What happened then?"

Artemis cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Even the most secure sites wouldn't give much detail. A war began; it lasted for a few months, mainly in Ireland where they found the entrance to Tara. The fairies held the humans off for a while but they eventually broke through and made it down to Haven and presumably, Atlantis. The battle continued here in Haven for a while, till the humans developed a new secret weapon, which they used on the citizens of Haven, causing a mass genocide. The rest of the facts are classified, no matter how deep I go into the sites. Basically, according to the human secret services, the fairy population of the world is now zero. Your species is officially classified as extinct."

Holly didn't know what to say. She was the last fairy in existence. Everyone else was dead. The humans had killed them. She swayed on her feet, feeling suddenly light-headed. "What about the others at Fowl Manor?"

Artemis shook his head solemnly. "They were one of the first casualties."

Holly had already received far too much shocking news for one day, this new information threatened to push her over the edge. She thought of her friends, her fellow officers, Foaly, No1. The mud men had killed them. Suddenly it was too much. She pitched forwards and Artemis reacted, reaching out to steady her with one hand. Holly froze at his touch, then something snapped and she exploded. "Get off me!" she yelled, yanking her arm out of Artemis's grasp. "You're one of them!"

He stared at her, shocked. "What?"

"You're a human!" Holly snarled. "You're just like the rest of them! You don't care! How can you just stand there and present the facts like that? Why don't you care?"

Artemis was utterly taken aback. "Of course I care! Some of them were my friends too! How can you think that this doesn't upset me?"

Holly glowered at the mud boy, refusing to see reason. She didn't let herself notice the red rims under his eyes, or the slight trembling of his hands. No. In her mind, Artemis Fowl suddenly became just as cold-blooded as the rest of them. "You and your _stupid species_!" she hissed through her teeth. "You're all the same. _Kill, kill, kill_. That's all you do!"

"I _do not_ kill people!"

Yes you do!" Holly was becoming hysterical now, her voice growing shriller and shriller as she punctuated each new word with a finger jab, driving her insane point home. "This is _all. Your. Fault."_

Artemis was totally dumbstruck. "Wh- what?" He stepped back from the livid fairy as she advanced on him, angry tears shining in her mismatched eyes.

"_You_ killed them! In the time tunnel, _you_ were in charge of the date! _You_ made us late! If we'd come back on time, we could have prevented this from ever happening! You brought us too far forwards! Look around!" she swept an arm around the ruined room. "This was _you_."

"Holly…"

"Don't even talk to me! Just… just don't."

* * *

**Please review, it will help me to be bothered editing chapter 9 tonight in time for tomorrow :D**

**~Katy x**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for reviewing guys, you're all awesome and made me meet my deadline :D**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 9: Losing Hope **

**Police Plaza: Haven**

Holly stormed from the room, too furious with the human to even tolerate being in the same space as him. She knew that this fury was entirely unreasonable; he had done his best to get them back to the right time, and without a warlock in tow, a year and a half _was_ pretty impressive. But she couldn't help it. She needed someone to vent her frustrations on, and Artemis was the only one nearby, thanks to the humans and their killing machines. She just needed a few minutes to cool down. She strode onwards, barely paying any attention to where her feet were taking her until she found herself in the Plaza's cafeteria area. Holly paused, looking around. Chairs and various kitchen utensils were strewn about the room, as thought it had been evacuated in a hurry. She ignored the mess and sat down heavily in one of the few upright chairs, sighing at the relief it offered her poor, aching feet. She leaned forwards and swept a pile of highly decomposed food onto the floor, wrinkling her nose at the smell it gave off. She needed a break, even if it was just a few seconds to process the overwhelming new developments Artemis had thrown her way. She was the last fairy on earth. What would she do if they ever got out of this mess? She couldn't exactly return home to Haven, where would she live?

Holly was jerked out of her reverie by a strange sound coming from outside the window. What was that? It sounded like… no. She was just hearing things. She shouldn't get her hopes up.

Wait, there it was again, there was not mistaking it. It was the sound of voices. Despite herself, Holly felt a bubble of hope inflate inside her. Maybe there were survivors and she had just missed them on her search of the city. She stood up and rushed over to the window, knocking over her chair in her haste to see what was outside. When she did though, she shrank back, the bubble instantly deflating into a pool of dread, which settled in her stomach. Those weren't fairies. Cautiously, Holly poked her head up above the window frame once more. Standing barely four metres from where she was hidden, a pair of humans in military uniform were combing their way through a pile of rubble, laughing and joking light-heartedly. Her eyes narrowed. They must be patrolling the city, checking for survivors. It made sense, if any fairies had survived the carnage, they wouldn't be able to stay concealed forever. Eventually, a human patrol would root them out. If they found her and Artemis here…

Of course, Artemis, being Artemis, decided to choose that exact moment to start looking for her.

"Holly!" he yelled far too loudly. She could hear him drawing closer to the cafeteria. "Holly! I'm sorry! Where are you?"

They were going to hear him. She stood up quickly, running towards the door and reaching it at exactly the same time as the mud boy.

"Holly." he said, relief evident in his eyes. "I thought you'd maybe left."

She shook her head, trying to get him to stay quiet, but it was too late; when she glanced back to the window, the two humans were staring straight at her, shock written all over their faces. Artemis's calls had evidently alerted them to their presence. "D'Arvit!" Holly hissed. "Artemis you idiot!"

"What? What did I do now?" she pointed at the window where the men were still peering inside, beginning to move towards it. Their guns were out and they both had them trained on the glass. Artemis's eyes widened. "Oh."

Rolling her eyes, Holly grabbed the teenager by the hand and began dragging him through the corridors, trying to find somewhere, anywhere, to hide. She stumbled across a store cupboard just as the sound of glass smashing reached her ears. "It'll have to do," she muttered, yanking the door open and pushing Artemis inside. The lock clicked shut ominously and the pair were swallowed by darkness, scarcely daring to breathe as the footsteps drew steadily closer.

Now, if Holly and Artemis were incredibly lucky, the two men would have passed right on by the cupboard without a second glance. Then again, if they were lucky, they would have landed in the right time. If they were lucky, Abbot would not have mesmerised the people in the first place. If they were lucky, they wouldn't be in this huge mess at all. But Holly and Artemis were not lucky people. Bad karma seemed to follow them round wherever they went, sniffing them out like bloodhounds. Luck was just not on their side, it never had been. And so, when the door handle began to rattle, Holly was not unduly surprised. To tell the truth, she was almost past giving a damn whether or not they found her. Everyone she cared about was dead, and Artemis would be fine; he was a human, one of them. They wouldn't hurt him.

It was with this reluctant acceptance that she waited as the humans forced open the door, staying completely serene even as they finally burst through, flooding the tiny room with light. Holly put up no struggles as they grabbed her by the arms and lifted her bodily off the ground, tossing away her ancient neutrino. She didn't protest as Artemis received the same treatment. The men cuffed them both and dragged them down the corridor harshly towards a waiting jeep. How it had gotten down here, Holly would never know, or care. She had sunk into a kind of semi-stupor, oblivious to the world around her. The men were shouting commands, but the words just weren't registering in her exhausted brain. The events of the past few weeks had finally caught up to her, and she couldn't muster up the energy to keep fighting. She had been fighting to survive for so long now. Maybe it would be better to just give up and let someone else win.

This calm lasted until the jeep stopped at the entrance to a shuttle port on the edge of Haven. When the men bundled her out, she put up one final struggle, more out of obligation to Artemis than anything else. Despite her misguided anger at him, she still owed the human her life. As soon as she was upright, Holly began to kick and thrash and bite and squirm, trying to cause the men as much pain as possible. It was useless. One of the soldiers grabbed onto her arms and hung on tightly, twisting them upwards behind her back. This made the cuffs dig into her wrists painfully and Holly almost cried out. When she tried to wrench her arms away, he promptly pulled out a syringe and plunged the needle deep into her shoulder. She yelped at the sharp stab of pain, and then swayed woozily as the anaesthetics took hold. Within seconds, Holly was unconscious.

* * *

When Holly awoke, she found herself in a brightly lit room. She recognised it instantly as an interrogation room, complete with a tiny desk, two plastic chairs and a two-way mirror on the wall. It was almost identical to the ones in the plaza in Haven. In fact, the only difference that Holly could see was the scale. Here, everything was human sized. Her feet just scraped the floor if she pointed her toes, and the edge of the desk almost reached her collarbone. This made Holly feel distinctly ill at ease. She didn't like being at a height disadvantage to her interrogator. When someone finally entered, Holly scowled. He was massive, almost as tall as Butler. It was like they knew of her sudden newfound height insecurity and were determined to exploit it.

The man sat down opposite her and leaned forwards pleasantly, clasping his hands on the table. He stared at her intently, as though waiting for her to instigate the conversation. When Holly said nothing, the man frowned a little and turned on the microphone in the centre of the table. He straightened up to his full height and cleared his throat politely.

"I must say, little fairy. It is a bit rude to ignore your host."

Holly said nothing, crossing her arms and slouching lower in her seat to show that she was unfazed by the height thing. This human wouldn't get to her.

The man waited for a good ten seconds for a reply. "Well?" he enquired, flexing his fingers a little. As he did so, Holly's attention was drawn to the bulging muscle of the man's forearms. His shirt was drawn tightly over almost impossibly large triceps, the buttons on his sleeves straining at the pressure. Holly was not put off by this power play. She knew full well that the human could snap her neck like a twig should he be so inclined; she _had_ been friends with _Butler _for almost ten years after all. With this knowledge in mind, Holly threw caution to the winds, deciding to wind the infuriatingly calm human up a little.

She folded her arms, inspecting one of her dirty fingernails with the utmost attention. "Well what?"

The man didn't bat an eyelid. "Well, are you not going to apologise?"

Holly did not reply, deigning instead to slouch even lower in her seat and shake her head in response. For some reason, she was feeling incredibly reckless; maybe it was just that she was fed up of being careful. Whatever her motive was, she was determined to drive the human round the bend.

He looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. "Very well then." He cracked his knuckles in what was obviously meant to be a threatening manner. "Down to business. What is your name?"

Holly snorted. Typical interrogation trick. Trying to lure the hostage into a false sense of security by asking them mundane questions, and then tricking the real answers out of them once they'd relaxed. That wouldn't work on her; she'd used the same trick far too many times in the LEP. "You know my name human. I have a name tag."

He focused on the little nametag that was pinned to her suit just below her acorns. "Well, its not in English, is it?"

Holly looked up sceptically. "You went to war with the people without even learning to read their language? Shocking. That's a beginner's mistake."

The man's fingers twitched. "Alright fine, Captain Short. I know your name."

Holly smiled serenely. "That's better, now tell me, what's yours?"

He shook his head, the corners of his lips turning up a little in amusement. "That's not going to work on me any more than it worked on you, Captain." he paused, thinking for a moment. "Captain. Quite a high rank for someone so young. How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty?"

Holly shook her head. "Hardly. Do I _look _like a child to you?"

"No, not really." The man admitted. "So… captain. Is that an army rank, or police force?"

She saw no harm in telling him that. Her rank wasn't really important when she had no one to work for anymore. "Police."

"Ah, the LEP." she nodded. "What branch? Retrieval? Traffic? Recon?"

Holly tried not to show her surprise as the man displayed a far greater knowledge of the lower elements police force than she would have expected. She kept her cool though, and answered calmly. "Recon."

The man nodded, looking ever so slightly impressed despite himself. "Forgive me for sounding sexist, but is that not usually a more male-oriented position?"

"I was the only female recon officer."

"Interesting… so, tell me fairy. How did you escape the Paradizo blast?"

"The… the what?" Holly didn't bother even trying to hide her shock at this new revelation. _Paradizo…_

The man repeated himself, still speaking in that soft, indulgent tone that contrasted so sharply with his sheer size and bulk. "The Paradizo explosion. Surely you must know of it? You were found in Haven. You can't have missed the ashes?"

"The ashes?"

"The ashes girl! The people! They were all incinerated! It's the same principle as one of those bio-bombs you were so fond of using against the humans! Everything inside the prescribed area dies. Everything. So naturally, we want to know how you and that human survived the blast!"

Holly didn't answer. She was too dumbstruck to respond. "Paradizo. You don't mean Minerva Paradizo, do you?"

The man looked surprised. "How do _you _know her first name? Well, it doesn't matter. She works for the government now, developing weapons for us to use against the fairies. I believe she's off to do a few experiments on your human friend at the moment, actually."

Holly's jaw had dropped farther than she would have believed possible. "That… that _bitch! _She's responsible for wiping out the fairies?"

The man nodded. "She's a national hero. Though the top dogs weren't too happy with just _how_ effective the Paradizo bomb actually was. They had wanted to keep aside a few fairies for medical research and the like, but unfortunately, they were all killed." He paused and looked at her with an almost hungry glint in his eye; a cat sizing up a mouse. "Except you."

Holly shrank back, no longer bothering about hiding her fear. "Me?"

The man laughed. "Well, obviously we're going to be testing on you. You're the last fairy in existence; we aren't going to let that go to waste. Our scientists are particularly interested in finding out what causes your uncommonly long lifespan. They're just _dying_ to meet you."

* * *

**Things are officially taking a turn for the worse now, whoo! The next chapter ain't gonna be pretty.**

**Please send a review, folks. Every one that appears in my mailbox makes my day just a little bit brighter ;)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ok, ok, since so many of you are asking, my original plan for this fic _was_ for them to go back to Frond's time, with the big battle and all that, but then I started writing it, and for some reason, it just didn't want to be written. And then I thought, hmm… maybe they could go forwards in time instead. Except there are some fics where they go forwards that are just so ridiculously good I didn't want to be compared to them. So anyway, the storyline that I now have is a sort of compromise. I like it better than my first idea anyway. Plus, it's really fun to write! :D **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 10: Holding It In- part 1**

**Secret P.U.T.N.T.I subdivision beneath British M15 headquarters: London**

At almost exactly the same time as Holly woke up in the interrogation room, Artemis was also coming to, having been drugged at the same time as her. He was in a slightly different setting to the elf though. Artemis found himself bound to a chair in the centre of a whitewashed room. It was fairly small, at his estimate, a six-metre cube, yet an array of bright spotlights glared down from the ceiling and walls, the blinding radiance chasing away even the smallest shadow. He blinked, eyes already beginning to water at the blinding light. It was like staring into the sun on a hot day, except the sun was coming from every direction.

As soon as he moved to sit up a little straighter, Artemis heard a clanging sound from behind him as a door swung open, then heavy footsteps made their way round to stand before him. Artemis found himself looking at a pair of khaki army-printed trousers. His eyes travelled upwards, taking in the soldier's bulk; he was at least as big as Butler, which was surprising, and wore a pair of dark sunglasses, presumably to combat the glare from the spotlights. He raised an eyebrow insolently at the man, waiting for him to speak. The man just ignored him, staring straight ahead in the direction of the door he had just entered. Suddenly, the soldier straightened up even more and snapped a salute. From behind him, Artemis heard the door close with a clang and a lighter set of footsteps approaching. They belonged to a somewhat smaller and yet much more dangerous looking man than the soldier. He was dressed smartly in a crisp white shirt and jet black suit, though the pristine outfit was a little undermined by the scraggy grey mess of hair atop his head, which had been pulled across in a comb-over to hide the prominent bald patch in the middle. He looked to be in his mid-to-late fifties. If asked, Artemis would have guessed fifty-seven. Beneath the receding hairline sat a pair of the bushiest eyebrows Artemis had ever seen on _anyone_, and that was even including the late Mulch Diggums. But what really made the man look dangerous was what lay directly below these monstrosities. His eyes. They were small, by any standards, and shrewd, calculating. They shone with a fierce intelligence, and cold ambition. This was the kind of man who would be constantly guessing his opponent's next move before he made it, and then beating him to the finishing line. They were an icy piercing grey that seemed to cut straight through you like a knife, leaving all the deepest darkest recesses of your mind bare and exposed. There was no mercy in those eyes.

In short, when Artemis Fowl looked into the eyes of this man, he saw for the first time what Holly had seen when she had first looked at him at the age of twelve.

The man smiled, and it was the smile of a shark. It showed every single one of his gleaming white teeth. "Good evening young man. My name is Graham Henderson and I work for the British M15. Perhaps you've heard of us?"

Artemis bared his teeth into an equally sharp-toothed and equally fake grin. This man irritated him. He was too cocky, too self-assured. And patronising! _Young man? _Seriously?

"Why yes, Mr.. Ah… Henderson. I _have_ heard of M15. I am not a complete imbecile, despite my age."

The man's smile dropped a few inches. "Very good. But I doubt you will have heard of my branch. You see, I work for the special-"

"Yes yes, the special forces dedicated to the prevention of unidentified terrestrial or non terrestrial invasion, otherwise known as P.U.T.N.T.I. I must say, the abbreviation could use some work, it doesn't really have a very good ring to it. Maybe shorten it down a little, have a play on words. For example, SPUTNIK. Or perhaps-"

"All right. Very clever." The man was no longer smiling. "How do you know that this agency even exists? Not even the prime minister-"

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "I know many things the British prime minister doesn't. In fact, I dare say I know many things you don't either."

Henderson scowled. "I highly doubt that, boy. You don't even know where you are."

Artemis's smug grin stretched even wider. "Really? How much would you be willing to bet on that?"

"Well, I'd certainly bet your little friend's life on it, for a start."

Artemis's grin vanished abruptly and the man's returned as he straightened up a little, elated by the minor victory. Artemis did not even bother replying as fear for Holly crashed down on him like a tidal wave, sweeping away everything except a dull panic.

"Where is she?" he said flatly, giving the man a death-glare that would have sent most people running in the opposite direction. Very fast.

Graham Henderson didn't even flinch. "She's perfectly fine. There's no need to worry about her, she won't be hurt. She's the last of her species and is therefore _infinitely_ more valuable than you. So to be honest, if I were you, it would be me I was worrying about."

The threat didn't even register in Artemis's mind. "If you so much as _touch _her, I'll…"

The man looked at him sceptically. "You'll what? Glare us all to death whilst strapped to that chair? I don't think so. You're hardly in the position to be making threats boy." When Artemis didn't reply, the man pulled over a chair that was propped against one wall and sat down directly in front of him, crossing one leg over the other casually and clasping his hands together on one knee. The soldier came to stand directly behind the chair, still staring straight ahead behind the dark glasses. "Now." continued the man. "I am here to ask you a few questions. Let's begin with an easy one. Your name?" Artemis didn't make a sound. The man grinned. "Ah good. We've got a non-talker. I do like the non-talkers." He turned in his seat and gestured to the soldier. Lieutenant Davies, would you do the honours?"

"Certainly sir." The man crossed round to stand beside Artemis and, fast as lightning, struck him open-handedly across the face.

It made a sound like a ruler hitting a desk. Artemis winced but didn't move, though he could feel the portion of his face where he'd been hit burning. Before him, the man leaned forwards in his seat, smirking.

"There's more where that came from. Right. I'll try a new first question, shall I? Earlier on this evening, our officers detained you in the ruins of Haven city. What were you doing underground in enemy territory, in an area where there are supposed to be no sentient life forms still breathing, and in the company of a _fairy_, whose species has been identified as an 'elf'?"

Artemis scowled. "If I am not even going to tell you my name, why on earth do you think I would tell you that?"

The man sighed and leaned back again regretfully. "Ah, well. That's a shame. Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir." Once more, the lieutenant moved forwards and struck Artemis on the face, though this time the other side. Artemis held in any outward sign of pain, though his entire head was now ringing with the force of the blows, and his face felt like it was burning up.

"Tell me, boy. This is important information, or you will be arrested on suspicion of treason."

"Am I not already under arrest? I thought that was what this whole interrogation was about?"

The man stood up. "You are really starting to get on my nerves boy. And people who get on my nerves do not tend to last long. Remember what I told you about being disposable?"

Artemis was about to shoot back another scathing remark, when there was an unexpected interruption. A small tinkling tune rang out from the left pocket of his interrogator's suit trousers. The man paused and then whipped out the phone, glancing at the caller I.D before flipping it open and answering it with a terse "Yes?" he listened for a moment. "You're watching on the camera, did you say? …Yes of course we've checked the security cameras underground. There's nothing… No I_ don't_ know how they got into Haven. Look, why don't you come on down and ask the boy yourself. He won't say anything to me, so get down here and get asking… I _know_ you've never interrogated anyone before, it's fine. He looks about your age, you can distract him with your feminine charms or something." He snapped the phone shut and looked back down at Artemis. "You're in luck, boy. You're about to get another interrogator, and trust me, she is nowhere near as forgiving as I am, so none of your smart-aleck comments."

The door swung open once again, and Artemis, despite himself, tried to crane his neck round to see who it was. He was rewarded with a sharp jab to the neck which made him swing his head back round to face forwards. Lieutenant Davies seemed to be getting into his stride with the hitting now.

Artemis waited as the door clicked shut gently, and slow, echoing footsteps made their way towards him. The sharp tapping of high heels made it quite clear that it was a woman who had just entered, even if the earlier phone conversation hadn't just taken place. She slowly walked round to stand beside Graham Hunter, who had resumed his seat. Artemis's eyes travelled upwards from her feet, taking in the thick black tights, which hid her legs from any man who dared to look, and the pristine white lab coat which stopped just above her knees. Long blonde curls fell to just before her breast pocket which Artemis could see was stuffed full with pencils and pens, and even a small calculator. He finally let his eyes travel up to the face of his new interrogator, though he already knew who it was.

"Minerva." He whispered, never taking his eyes off hers. The young Frenchwoman met his gaze for almost a full five seconds before finally looking away guiltily.

The man shifted in his seat, turning first from Artemis to Minerva, and back again, looking as though his eyes would pop out of his head. "Hold on, rewind here." He looked up at Minerva incredulously. "You _know _him?"

She nodded, and then shook her head quickly, curls swishing from side to side. "Yes, well no. We've only met a couple of times. Our families were in the same social circle, and we met once at a…" she hesitated for a split second, "chess convention."

The man looked at her doubtfully. "A chess convention? Do you even get those? Well, never mind that, it is of no importance. What I really want to know is what is his name?"

Minerva looked from Artemis to Henderson desperately. She seemed to be trying to communicate something to Artemis, though he was unsure quite what it was. An apology for the upcoming betrayal perhaps?

"His… his name is Artemis Fowl."

The man crowed with delight. "Excellent! Well done Miss Paradizo! You just keep on getting better and better here, what with the bomb down in Haven, and now this. I don't know what we'd do without you."

Minerva cringed and refused to meet Artemis's eyes as he looked up at her furiously. She had been the one to bomb Haven! She had wiped every fairy off the face of the earth! She had been the one responsible for all of this. In all his life, Artemis had never felt so much anger directed towards one person. It was her fault Foaly was dead, Mulch was dead, No1 was dead, Trouble was dead, _Holly_ was captured…

He was so intent on giving the girl the ultimate Fowl-stare-of-death, that he almost didn't notice her fingers. Though she was looking at Henderson intently, taking in every word he said, she was tapping intently on the backrest of the chair that she stood beside. Artemis's attention was drawn to the tapping. What was she doing? On a whim, he watched for a few seconds and soon began to notice a pattern. Three short taps, a longer tap, another short tap… she was tapping out a Morse code! He was sure of it. Artemis reached back into the recesses of his mind, to when he was six. Like many young children, He had gone through a phase of being obsessed with the idea being a spy, and so naturally, he had gone about learning every secret code he could, including Morse code. Of course, his other junior spying activities had involved hacking into several major banking companies and corporations, the British military and American NASA, but that was beside the point. The point was that Minerva was sending him a message. Artemis zoned out of the conversation, and focused on the taps.

'_Don't do anything stupid. I will fix this_.'

* * *

**Dun Dun Duuuun! I couldn't think of a much eviller place to leave this, so there you are! **

**And hmmm… perhaps Minerva is not all you thought she was…**

**Please review and tell me what you think! This is my third chapter in a week so it would be appreciated! **:D

**~Katy x**


	11. Chapter 11

**Ok, two small notes for this chapter: I don't know what other people call vacuum cleaners, but here we refer to them as hoovers, so there are a couple of references of hoovers at the end of the chapter and I thought I should tell you what they were in case you didn't know.**

**Also, I think that this chapter finally makes this fic deserve its T-rating for violence and stuff, so if you don't like that kind of thing, beware! **

**And I don't mean like I did in TDHBD with the rib-crushy thingy: this is a little bit worse than that was. Not a lot, but I thought I should tell you :)**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 11: Holding it in-part 2**

Artemis scowled up at the unusual grouping before him. "I am still not talking." He said flatly to the room at large. Minerva, Henderson and lieutenant Davies looked down at their hostage. Minerva wore an expression of extreme consternation. Obviously in her book, Artemis refusing to comply with his interrogator's wishes definitely counted as doing something stupid. He glared straight back at her.

Henderson however, appeared positively delighted. "Ah, excellent news, Master Fowl. It's ever so dull when the hostage does what they are told. And it makes the lieutenant's position here quite redundant." He stood up, brushed down his spotless suit and made his way to the door, issuing instructions as he did so. "Davies, stay in here and keep guard on the boy. Miss Paradizo, you're coming with me. I want you to tell me everything you know about Fowl. We'll also run a little background check whilst we're at it," as he passed Artemis, he ruffled his hair cheekily, "Just to make sure he's telling us the truth when we finally get him to talk." The pair left the room, leaving Artemis alone with the soldier, who took up a position in front of the door, out of sight.

* * *

Holly Short was not having much fun. After the man had left her in the interrogation room, she had been completely ignored for what felt like forever but had probably in reality only been about two hours. At the moment, she was lounging in the blue plastic chair, feet propped up on the enormously high desk in front of her as she inspected her extremely muddy boots without much interest. Her head was tilted back and her arms were folded across her chest. To anyone watching, she appeared completely relaxed. Only a skilled behavioural analyst would notice the constant twitching of her fingers, the slight jiggling of a knee, the distracted shifting of her pupils around the tiny room. If they did notice these things, they would say that it was a sure sign of impatience, of her frayed nerves getting the better of her. They would be right. Her brief period of not-caring-about-anything had passed during the interrogation. Holly had been firmly pulled back to reality by her meeting with the human soldier earlier. His words drifted back to her.

"Well, obviously we're going to be testing on you…"

Gods, what would that entail?

She was suddenly jerked out of her reverie by a sharp rap on the door. A second later, a lock clicked and it swung open. The man was back.

"Greetings Miss Short."

Holly spun round in her chair and glared at the officer. "Captain." she spat. "Captain Short."

"My apologies, _Captain_ Short. Now, I have come to offer you a change of scenery. There are a few of my associates who would quite like to meet you now, and I promised that I would allow them to do so before you retired for the night."

Holly stayed where she was. "Well, tell them I am not interested unless they do something for me. I want to speak to the human I came in with."

The man frowned. "I am afraid that at the present time that is impossible, _Captain_. He is currently undergoing an interrogation, and so is unavailable."

"Well, will you take me to him afterwards?"

the man actually laughed. "Miss Short, I don't believe you quite grasp who you are dealing with here. Master Fowl, yes, we know his name now, Master Fowl will most probably be incapable of communicating with _anyone_ following his interrogation, and I cannot guess at his recovery time. It could be anything from a few days to a few months. Besides, you are a prisoner. You aren't even human. You have no human rights. Why on earth would we let you speak with anyone? You could formulate an escape plan."

"I won't, I just need to-"

"Silence. You will come with me now, or I will take you by force."

Holly sighed. "Well I don't suppose I really have a choice then do I?"

"No you don't."

Slowly, whilst trying to quell the rising panic for her human companion, Holly stood up and followed the man from the room. They emerged into a gleaming white hallway that seemed to stretch on forever in both directions. There were conspicuously black security cameras dotted at two-metre intervals down its entire length and even without her helmet filter, Holly was pretty sure that there would be absolutely no blind spots. The officer turned left and Holly followed him down the hall, eventually stopping at an unmarked door. He entered a twelve-digit code and stepped onto a pressure pad. Immediately, a wide blue laser beam descended from the ceiling, scanning the man's entire body. A small red light on the control panel switched to green before an automated voice rang out from a speaker on the side of the box.

"Entrant identified as General Matthew Parsons, M15 special services, PUTNTI division. Species: human. Access granted. Please state name and species of any persons accompanying you."

The officer leant forwards and spoke clearly into a tiny rounded microphone. "One individual accompanying. Surname: Short. First name: unknown. Category: prisoner. Species: fairy. Sub-category: elf."

He turned to Holly and motioned for her to step onto a second pressure pad. She did as she was told. The laser travelled down her body and a second light on the panel winked green.

"Access granted."

The automatic doors slid open and the man strode forwards without delay. Holly trailed after, feeling distinctly apprehensive. They were in yet another whitewashed room. What was it about these humans and the colour white? It was everywhere in this building. Once she'd gotten over the décor, she began assessing the rest of the room. It was quite a bit larger than the one she'd just left, and seemed to be some sort of research laboratory judging by the immense array of test tubes and unknown substances that littered every spare surface. The only area that seemed to be clear was a long bench at the back of the room where six or seven computers were lined up side by side, all displaying a different series of data. In a strange way, it reminded her of Artemis's lab, only a lot less neat and a lot more imposing.

Sitting at one of the computers were a pair of men dressed in white lab coats. They were talking animatedly and gesturing at the screen with great enthusiasm. It appeared to show some sort of security footage, though it was too far away for Holly to make out the figures on screen. The officer cleared his throat and the scientists spun round and stood up quickly.

"General Parsons. You have the fairy then?"

"Yes." He pushed Holly forwards into their line of sight and the two men gasped simultaneously before rushing over.

"My my, what an exquisite specimen! We couldn't have hoped for better! Hardly damaged too!"

One of the men knelt before Holly and shone a small light in her eyes. "I know! The ones you used to bring us before the bomb went off were half-dead by the time we got them. This one looks like it'll last us quite a while." He grabbed her jaw and pulled her mouth open, inspecting her teeth closely.

"I quite agree." Exclaimed the other scientist, peering into her mouth as well. "It seems quite… sturdy, if you know what I mean. Not at all fragile like some of the others. Remember that pixie?"

"I do. Why, it barely lasted a month!"

"I know. Terrible loss that was. But if we play our cards right, who knows how long this one will last?"

Holly lost patience and jerked her head out of the man's grip. They sat back, slightly startled as she rounded on them. "What in Frond's name do you think you are doing! I am not some dumb animal you know!" she turned to General Parsons. "Tell them!"

Parsons just smiled and made for the door. "She's all yours, gentlemen. Try not to damage her too much in case we need her for interrogation later on."

The scientists nodded eagerly and the door slammed shut before they rounded on Holly once again. The man who had shone the light in her eyes knelt before her, staring into her mismatched eyes intently. "It still has the gift of tongues I see. Shall we find out how much magic is left in her system?"

"Oh yes. We were running a little low; it will be good to have a fresh supply. Take her over to the extraction machine."

Holly's eyes widened. That did not sound good.

* * *

Back in the interrogation room, Artemis was in at least as bad a predicament as Holly. Gone were the false niceties of the earlier conversation, the faked civility. Graham Henderson seemed determined to wrestle every single piece of information he could out of him, and was resorting to crueller and crueller methods to do so.

Artemisitched to wipe the trail of blood from his lip, but his bound hands prevented him from moving even an inch. He suspected his nose was broken. "…I can't tell you that." He gasped as the soldier pulled back from delivering a particularly painful blow to his abdomen.

Henderson sighed, crossing his legs. "Arty, Arty, Arty. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I don't _want_ to have to tell Davies to hurt you, you know. And _Davies_ doesn't _want_ to hurt you either. Lets face it. You're just a kid. You should be at home, playing football or looking at pictures of naked girls. You don't belong here. You've just gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. Now, if you tell me _why_ you were down in Haven with a particular _member_ of the wrong crowd, I will let you go home and forget about this. We don't want to keep you here; we are only interested in the fairy. She's the one with the magic."

Artemis snorted. "Yeah right. You'd just let me waltz out of here and go home to my family?"

Henderson shook his head, eyes glinting as he pulled one of his hideous aces from his sleeve, the ace that would break a stronger man than Artemis Fowl. "Not quite. There would be a slight problem with that considering that you don't actually have a family to go to." Artemis stayed silent, appraising the man warily. "Yes, you see, when I looked up your file, that's something else I noticed. Last year, Fowl Manor was raided; twenty-two fairies were apprehended and killed along with any inhabitants inside the house at that time. Your family were not there, but we found them in a safehouse in Limerick a few weeks later. According to our records, your parents were executed for conspiring with the people."

Artemis gaped. His mother and father were… dead. He felt all the air go out of his lungs, as though the man's words had physically winded him. "You killed them. They had nothing to do with the fairies."

Henderson stood up, gesturing to Davies. The soldier stepped forwards and twisted Artemis's arm sharply to the right. There was a loud crack and Artemis yelled out in pain. For almost a whole minute, he didn't move, simply revelling in the sensation of not having to think about his family. He concentrated every fraction of his mind on the now-broken bone, letting the burning pain wash over him, drowning in it.

Suddenly, Artemis felt a new sensation begin to build up inside him, one that he had never registered before. It started off as a hot buzzing in the back of his brain, not altogether unpleasant, just insistent. Then it began to spread. It flowed down his spine and outwards, drawn to his injured nose and arm.

Artemis only recognised the sensation as magic in the nick of time. He jerked in his seat and focused his mind on the sparks, forcing them back upwards into his brain. He couldn't heal. If these humans found out that he had magic, he was done for. He constructed a sort of dam in his mind to hold the sparks back and then divided his attention; one part of his brain focused on keeping the magic at bay, whilst the other turned back to the conversation.

"What… about… Myles and… Beckett?"

Henderson sat back down again slowly. "Your brothers? They were considered too young to be involved. They were sent to a juvenile detention centre."

Artemis sighed with relief. At least they were alive. It was a small victory, but it did help to slightly override the crushing weight of defeat that was settling on his shoulders.

"Fowl. Tell me. What were you doing in Haven?"

"Nothing. A bit of sightseeing with a friend."

Henderson looked at the lieutenant. "Go on." The man moved forwards once more, targeting Artemis's upper body this time. He delivered yet another crushing blow to his chest and something else cracked. A rib, most likely.

After a considerable effort to once more constrain the sparks building in his mind, and a lot of pain, Artemis began to laugh. Needless to say, his interrogator was slightly astonished. He was used to noisy victims, yes. But the sounds they emitted were usually screaming and begging. Never in his whole career had he had a prisoner greet a broken rib with _laughter_.

"What's so funny boy?" he asked sharply.

"It's just… you would not _believe_ the number of times I have had my ribs broken recently." Artemis wheezed.

Henderson scowled. "Well stop laughing. It's creepy."

Artemis didn't stop. He kept laughing until his sides felt as though they were about to split open. It wasn't a humorous kind of laughter. There was nothing to find funny here. It was more a release of pent-up frustration. His hysteria was a sort of coping mechanism, he realised. His brain couldn't deal with any more pressure; whether from the magic or from the interrogation, he didn't know, but it had simply converted his turbulent emotions into uncontrollable hysterical laughter.

Eventually, the two men had enough of watching him laugh and Henderson stood up. "Right Fowl. I'm going on my lunch break. I'll be back in an hour. We'll see how funny you find your situation then." He strode quickly from the room and this time, lieutenant Davies followed.

Artemis was left alone.

* * *

Holly had been wired up to some sort of machine.

The scientists, who she had come to distinguish as _scientist-with-moustache _and _scientist-without-moustache_, had gotten her to lie down on a small hospital bed with wheels. They had then promptly cuffed her hands and feet to the rails. Holly had put up quite a fight, kicking and screaming and cursing in every language she knew. She had only stopped when her voice began to crack. The scientists had ignored this outburst and carried on with their dubious preparations for the "extraction" to come. They had attached various electrodes to strategic points on Holly's skull and one of her arms, before disappearing from sight altogether, though she could still hear them clattering about outside her field of vision.

"What are you going to do?" she called out. There was no answer, but the next minute the two scientists emerged from behind a huge generator. They were wheeling with them what looked like a large glass fish tank. It was completely empty however, and there was what looked like a vacuum cleaner nozzle attached to the top. Holly eyed the contraption apprehensively. "What does that do?" she whispered.

_Scientist-with-moustache_ looked at her pleasantly. "Don't worry, little fairy. It is completely harmless. We are simply going to extract some of your magic for our own scientific research."

Holly immediately started struggling again but it was no use; her arms and legs were secured so tightly, she only succeeded in giving herself cuts from the cuffs. Blue sparks swirled around the minor injures, healing them instantly.

"Now now," said _scientist-without-moustache_. "Don't you go wasting any of that lovely magic. He wheeled the contraption into place beside Holly's bed and grabbed a plastic strap from a table, using it to secure her head to the bedstead. "We're ready."

The other man switched the machine on and a low humming sound started up. Emerald coloured sparks suddenly winked into existence just inside the vacuum cleaner nozzle. Holly eyed them suspiciously_. Green_ sparks? She'd never seen _green_ sparks before. They didn't seem natural.

Now, scientist-without-moustache was approaching her from the other side. He was holding a surgical scalpel. Without preamble, he pressed the point against the bare skin of Holly's forearm, just below where the rolled-up sleeve of her jumpsuit ended. She yelped a little at the sharp prick pf the blade, but then relaxed as the knife did not go any deeper. One drop of blood rolled out and then it stopped. The scientists watched avidly as Holly felt the magic scurry down towards the tiny wound, beginning to knit it together…

…Funny… it seemed to be taking longer than usual. She looked down at her arm and saw that they had the nozzle placed directly above the cut, and it seemed to be almost sucking the sparks in, the green ones engulfing her own blue ones and dragging them up the nozzle and out of sight. She twisted in the direction of the fish tank and saw, to her surprise, her sparks of magic. They were appearing inside the tank, floating serenely in the empty space.

They were sucking the magic from her body!

Holly lost track of how long she lay there for, constantly healing the tiny cut whilst it never got any smaller. She watched lethargically as the fish tank slowly filled up with magic until the entire unit was glowing bright blue, like a human glow-stick. From time to time, Holly attempted to cut off the flow of sparks to her arm but they wouldn't obey her. She didn't have the power to stop the magic once it had started flowing.

With every passing second, Holly's energy depleted as the machine dragged the life out of her body spark by spark.

* * *

**There we go. man, this story really does seem to be on a downhill spiral for Holly and Artemis, doesn't it?**

**Anyway, next chapter: we find out exactly what Minerva was talking about in chapter 10. dun dun duuuun! :o**

**Please give me a little review, I only have 2 exams left now, and if you are all very good, I might be able to fit in another couple of chapters whilst I am one study leave ^_^**


	12. Chapter 12

**This is another example of a chapter which I am not too happy with, mainly because it takes too long to get anything done. Oh well, at least it's something…**

**On a happier note, my prelims are done! Yaay! **

**Depending on my results, that should hopefully free up a lot of time so I can concentrate on getting this thing posted. It's all mapped out, and I know where I am going, I just need to write it. Right now, I'd say we are at least past the halfway mark :)**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 12: Explosion**

Artemis strained against the ropes that held him captive, panting as he struggled to control the sparks. They were rising up inside him, growing hotter and hotter inside his brain until he though he would scream out loud from the agony. The only thing that stopped him from doing just that was the fear of losing his last shreds of self-control. He could feel the sparks pushing, prodding, searching for a weak point in the mental defences he had set up. Any second now, the magic was going to explode outwards and begin to heal his newly inflicted injuries.

Artemis knew that when this happened, it would be the end. The humans would realise that he had magic and god only knew what they would do then. They would want to harness the power themselves, but who knew what that might entail for both him and Holly. After all, they would guess that she had given it to him, that she had revealed the fairies deepest secrets and bestowed upon him the gift of magic. Of course they would imagine that. And then, they would go to Holly and demand that she do the same for them. And when she couldn't do it, they would assume that she was just being stubborn in a typical Holly-style and they would try and force it out of her. Little did Artemis know, they were already forcing the magic out of her anyway…

* * *

Holly was bucking and thrashing on the hospital bed, causing the thin metal frame to rock in a most alarming manner. She was making one last-ditch attempt to escape the fearsome hoover nozzle near her arm as it sucked the final sparks from her system. She could feel the magic going, like dregs of water down a plug hole, it was spiralling out through the cut and being captured by the green sparks, leaving a horrifying emptiness behind which grew with each passing second.

The fish tank was almost full now, and the two scientists were looking at it with a greedy kind of fascination. The blue glow lit up their faces, somehow distorting their features so that they looked almost heathen, like two cackling witches crooning over some unearthly concoction. This sight only made Holly redouble her efforts to escape, no matter how fruitless she knew them to be. She would not get away now but the sight of the men as they coveted her precious magic was almost too much to bear. Magic was something pure, something beautiful, made wholly from nature, and these men were treating it like some sort of _prize._

For a fairy, having their magic removed was pretty much the worst feeling possible, and Holly had now had to endure it twice in a matter of weeks. She could feel her body beginning to give up and her struggles grew weaker as the sparks began to slow. Soon, there was only a trickle leaving her body, and she sank back into the thin mattress as tears leaked from her eyes at the sheer hopelessness of it all. She wanted to just give up and die right now, but Holly knew the humans would never grant her this mercy, they wanted her alive.

Sure enough, right when she was sure that there was pretty much nothing left inside her, _scientist-with-moustache _pulled the nozzle away from her arm and switched off the machine. Holly watched with glazed eyes as a single green spark floated from the nozzle to the surface of her skin and sealed shut the tiny graze on her arm. That was it. She didn't have enough magic remaining to do it herself. All she had left within her was the single miniscule spark in her brain necessary for survival, the one which Opal had all but extinguished earlier. She still had that, though it didn't really mean much to Holly. She would almost rather they took that away too, if it would get rid of this terrifying void inside her.

* * *

Artemis jerked involuntarily in his seat as the magic rose up once more inside his brain. It was coming like waves now. There would be a brief period of respite, perhaps ten seconds, when he could think clearly. Then, there would be a huge swell of white-hot sparks inside his head, pressing against the inside of his skull and drowning out all rational thought. Artemis was pretty sure that if he kept this up much longer, something was going to fracture, most likely his skull. He screwed his eyes tight shut and concentrated on calming the tempest inside his mind, willing it to stop trying to heal his stupid arm. And his stupid rib. And his stupid, stupid, stupid nose. And why was he calling things stupid? Surely he had a better description in his multi-lingual vocabulary than that? No, right now he didn't. In fact, Artemis was so preoccupied that he wasn't sure he even knew what a vocabulary was at that moment. _That_ was how hard he was concentrating.

As the largest wave of magic so far began to slowly ebb away, Artemis risked opening his eyes. He needed to see what was going on, he didn't even know if there was anyone in the room with him. No, there wasn't. He was alone. Perhaps, perhaps he could somehow disengage the security camera on the wall in front of him. A little red light winked at him tauntingly from the cover. Dammit! If only Foaly were here, he could have deactivated it in a heartbeat, and Artemis could have let the sparks take control. But Foaly was a pile of ashes somewhere in Fowl Manor at the moment. He wasn't coming to help; no one was.

"Aargh!" Artemis couldn't keep back an involuntary cry of pain as a fresh wave of magic crashed down on him with a new blinding intensity. It seemed to be targeting his eyeballs now, searching for a way to escape the rigid cage Artemis had created within his mind. His eyes burned and for a moment, he saw sparks dancing in them before he jammed them shut, gritting his teeth at the effort it cost him. He tried to slip back into a meditative state where he could control the sparks more easily, but it wouldn't come. Instead, he rode the wave out. About a minute later, Artemis felt the magic recede and he opened his eyes again, only to get the shock of his life. "Minerva!" the French girl stood calmly in front of him, as though waiting fro him to address her. She was still dressed in her lab coat and had her arms folded tightly across her chest, one finger tapping out a beat on her forearm. She must have come through the door whilst he was fighting the last wave of magic.

"Artemis." she greeted him in crisp, though ever so slightly accented English.

"What." He grunted, currently lacking the space in his mental facilities to be polite.

"I need to speak to you." She crouched down in front of his chair. "I can help you escape from here."

Artemis shook his head violently. "The security feed, they'll hear."

The female genius grinned and brandished a small remote control from her pocket. "_Non,_ they will not. I have overridden the controls. Now, I happen to have a plan. There is a helicopter pad at the top of the building, if we can just get to there before-"

"I can't Minerva. I-aaaah-I can't move." The sparks were beginning to build again and Artemis was finding it harder and harder to focus on the Frenchwoman's words. As the new wave grew he saw the sparks in his eyes again and clenched them tight shut, riding out the wave completely before he opened them again. He found himself staring directly into Minerva's shocked blue ones.

"Artemis, … what was that?"

"What?"

"Your eyes… they just had blue sparks in them." she lowered her voice, as though she would still be overheard even without the room's surveillance facilities. "Was that… magic?"

Artemis nodded frantically, groaning as he did so. "It's trying to heal me, but if I show that I have magic in a place like this-"

"Goodness knows what they might do to you." Minerva finished solemnly. He nodded again. He knew he was being extremely stupid in trusting the person who had killed off the people, but he didn't really have a choice. She was his only chance of possibly getting Holly back.

"Exactly." Artemis closed his eyes again, screwing them as tightly shut as he could manage as the next wave of magic loomed. "Minerva," he said hurriedly. "I cant hold this in any longer, and I don't know what will happen if I let it go now. Promise me- promise me…" he let out a groan. It was too late. He couldn't tell her to help Holly. He couldn't speak anymore. The greatest wave of magic yet thundered down, drowning out all his senses. He couldn't think, he couldn't move, the pressure was too immense. With an almost grateful sigh, Artemis let his brain slide into unconsciousness, releasing the pent-up energy with a huge '_bang'_ as he did so.

* * *

The first thing Artemis registered when he regained consciousness was the lack of pain. His ribs and arm no longer throbbed, and his nose seemed fine. The second thing he noticed was that he was no longer holding in any magic. That was also a good thing. For a moment, he kept his eyes shut and revelled in the sensation of nothing pressing against his skull. Thank god that was over. Then, he remembered where he was. His eyes flew open and he sat up so quickly, he nearly knocked Minerva out. Her face had been inches from his and she jerked backwards quickly to avoid the blow.

"Artemis! You're finally awake."

"It appears so," he said, taking in his surroundings with a bit of surprise. They were no longer in the interrogation room. They were at the top of a flight of concrete stairs next to a floor-to-ceiling window, which depicted the overcast skyline of London city. They appeared to be at the topmost level of the M15 building. He looked at Minerva with some confusion. "What are we doing here? And how on earth did you get me up here unconscious?"

She pointed slowly to a space behind Artemis's head and he spun round where he sat. A pair of soldiers in khaki uniform stood to attention in front of a metal door with a keycode lock. "They helped me. They didn't like what the government are doing here either, and risked their lives to save you."

He spun back round to the French girl. "Wait, _save_ me?"

"Yes, we have acquired a helicopter and pilot. He is waiting outside to pick us up."

Artemis looked around, though he knew there was no one else on the landing. "What about Holly?"

Minerva shifted uncomfortably. "We couldn't get her. They have her in room 107; it's under constant human watch. I think she was in the middle of something anyway."

Artemis glared at her suspiciously. "What are you not telling me, Minerva?"

"Nothing." her gaze shifted slightly to the right and Artemis frowned.

"You are lying. But that is beside the point. The point is, I am not leaving here without Holly as well."

Minerva scowled heavily. "Yes you are. Don't even think about trying to get away. Do you even realise how hard it was to get you out of that room? I had to pretend I was taking you to see Parsons! We were stopped about a hundred times, and the whole place will be in uproar in a matter of minutes when they realise that you have escaped. If we don't move now, we'll never make it."

"I don't _want_ to make it without Holly. We can't just leave her here."

Minerva crouched down beside Artemis once more. "_Oui_, we can. You can come back and get her later, but right now we have to run. I will not be in any position to help you with an escape attempt a second time."

"I can't leave." Artemis clambered to his feet and lurched unsteadily towards the stairs.

Behind him, Minerva sighed and gestured to the soldiers. "Restrain him_._"

The men hurried to cut off Artemis, who was now dizzily trying to navigate the staircase without tripping down it. He still felt woozy. Unfortunately, the soldiers managed to hold him back and Artemis found himself held onto tightly, one man grasping each arm.

"Minerva!" he yelled. "Don't do this!" he began to struggle in the soldiers' arms as they half-dragged him towards the metal door. Minerva keyed in a code and the door swung open easily. Without hesitation, she marched out onto the concrete roof of the M15 building, hair and lab coat billowing in the wind created by a waiting helicopter's rotating blades.

The men followed quickly, pulling Artemis along. The helicopter door slid open and Minerva climbed up gracefully and took a seat. Artemis was bundled into the seat opposite. He wasted no time. As soon as the soldiers released his arms, he lunged for the door, diving headfirst out towards the roof. Before he could make contact with unforgiving concrete however, one of the soldiers grabbed him and shoved hard. Artemis fell back into his chair and they slammed the door shut. "No!" he cried at the top of his voice, jumping to his feet and battering the reinforced glass uselessly. "Holly! Holly!" he only succeeded in injuring his fists. Then again, considering the fact that these windows were most probably bullet-proof and not even Butler could have smashed them without a bit of a struggle, this was not surprising.

Finally, Artemis rested his forehead against the glass and went quiet as he stared out at the bleak view of London city. It was harsh and grey due to the dense, dark cloud hanging overhead. He registered a change in the sound of the engines and slowly, the helicopter began to rise, buffeting a little in the wind. As they ascended, Artemis sank to the floor and let his hands slide down the window, which was slowly being covered in little flecks of rain. He felt the hopelessness wash over him all over again as they began to drift away from the building.

He stayed watching it for as long as possible, trying to see through all the layers of stone and metal, right down to the darkest, most secretive depths, where all alone in a cold white room, he imagined an auburn-haired elf lying shivering as a multitude of humans surrounded her, tall and imposing. In his minds eye, she peered around the looming figures and looked straight back at Artemis, eyes burning with accusation. '_You left me here. You left me to face this alone.'_

Artemis hissed through his teeth, creating a mist of condensation which finally obscured his view of the building.

He whispered three small words against the cold glass. "I'll come back."

* * *

**Ooookaaay. Interesting turn of events there. **

**(Next chapter: Where is the helicopter headed? What will become of Holly? Will there be a confrontation about the Paradizo bomb thing?)**

**Also, please review. What are your thoughts? Are things still going okay?**

**~Katy **


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: A Conversation**

**Somewhere over the North Sea: British waters**

Minerva was watching Artemis intently. He, on the other hand, was steadfastly ignoring her, refusing to meet her curious gaze. He was currently slouched in a chair directly opposite the Frenchwoman, having finally pulled away from the window as they had neared the outskirts of London. He was now completely still and silent, and anyone who knew the genius could tell that he was thinking hard. His eyes burned into the wall before him and they had taken on a slightly glazed appearance, as though his thoughts were far from the cockpit of the tiny helicopter. Minerva on the other hand, seemed to be finding it impossible to remain still. Every couple of seconds she shifted in her seat, or flicked a lock of hair from her eyes, or sighed conspicuously. Eventually, she seemed to get fed up of Artemis steadfastly ignoring her, and glared at the teenager, hard.

"Artemis."

For a moment, he didn't respond. Then, with a heavy sigh, he refocused his eyes and looked at her, raising an eyebrow as he did so. "Yes?"

"I know that right now you hate me, and with good reason too. I am responsible for too many deaths for me to expect anything else. But please, will you at least tell me what is going on here?"

Once again, Artemis took a few seconds to reply. "What do you want to know?"

Minerva sat up even straighter in her seat and waved her arms around her in an eloquent gesture. "This! Everything! Why were you and Captain Short found in Haven? Why did you suddenly disappear off the face of the earth for almost two years, and then come back looking exactly the same as you were when I last saw you? How do you suddenly have magic?" she slammed her fist down on the leather seat. "Artemis! _J'en ai ras-le-bol!_ I don't have a single clue what I am doing here! What is going on?"

Artemis studied the girl in front of him for a moment, then leaned forwards. "I'll begin by answering the easy questions first." He did a quick mental calculation. "Your birthday is on the fourth of May, am I correct?"

Minerva nodded sullenly. "_Oui._ But how does this explain anything?"

Artemis ignored her and continued. "That means that you have just turned twenty. I am still eighteen."

"What?" she looked puzzled for a moment, then her genius, which seemed to have been slightly lagging behind throughout the conversation, finally caught up. Her eyes widened. "Time travel. Again?"

Artemis nodded an affirmative. "Yes. Two years ago, there was a… disturbance in the Lower Elements. Fairies were being mesmerised into hating humans by the demon Leon Abbot, you remember him, right?"

"Yes. And I remember a year and a half ago. Abbot challenged the humans to a war, revealing the people who were forced to fight in their _mesmerised _state. I thought they had turned against us till I began working for the French Government. They sent me to Britain after they found out that I had been in previous contact with the species. It was only there, when I finally saw human scientists accidentally breaking through the _mesmer_ on fairy prisoners that I finally realised what had happened."

"But you still blew them up." It was not a question, and Artemis said it matter-of-factly without a hint of anger in his voice, but it still made her cringe in her seat. He didn't wait for a reply, and kept on talking. "anyway, when Abbot mesmerised the people, there were a small group of them on the surface at Fowl Manor. They were not affected by the _mesmer,_ but couldn't get back down to Haven due to the rest of the fairy population who wanted to kill them. Me, Holly, Mulch, Qwan and Captain Birch- he's a Recon officer- managed to get to Haven and tried to stop Abbot but he ended up using his powers to send us into the time stream. Holly and I were thrown forwards approximately a year and a half, and I do not know what has happened to Qwan and Mulch."

Minerva nodded slowly. She was taking this news remarkably calmly. But then, she had been studying temporal physics since she was twelve years old, and had managed to catch a demon suspended in limbo. She wasn't exactly a novice with these things. "So you appeared in Haven and got caught by the human patrol."

"Yes."

"But that still doesn't explain where you got magic from."

"That is a long story. Basically, when I was fourteen and went to Hybras, I stole some from the time stream. I have had it ever since." Artemis neglected to mention the fact he had recently discovered that he could complete the ritual just like a fairy. He didn't think it would be the cleverest idea to tell Minerva that information, for fear of what she would do.

"So you can now heal? And perform the _mesmer_? And shield?"

"Well, I don't know about shielding. I have never tried. But yes, I can heal and mesmerize."

"Try it." Minerva leaned in closer, suddenly very excited. "Try it now."

"Well, um…"

"Try it!"

Artemis closed his eyes and concentrated, drawing the sparks from the base of his skull, where they had retreated after his little episode earlier. He let them fill his body, but nothing happened except a faint tingling in his extremities. He shook his head. "I suspect the human body is much too dense to withstand the vibrations."

"What about the gift of tongues?"

Artemis thought. He had never actually considered the possibility before. He usually only spoke the languages he had already learned, having mastered a fair few anyway.

"I'll try it. _Hello. Bonjour. Hei. Ol__à__. Guten tag. Ciao. Hola. Jambo. Adieu._

Okay, yes. I guess I can." He wasn't particularly enthralled by this minor development, but Minerva was almost bouncing in her seat with excitement.

"Artemis! That is amazing! You could-"

He cut her off. "No, I couldn't. Nobody is getting to hear about this, alright?" his brisk tone boded no argument. The conversation was over. He went back to his contemplation of the wall and Minerva looked down at her feet uncomfortably, trying to build up the courage to speak again.

"Artemis?"

He looked back at the Frenchwoman for a moment, not caring in the slightest that she was squirming under his harsh glare. She had betrayed them in the worst way possible. He wasn't about to forgive her just because she helped him escape. "What,"

"I know you hate me right now, but please try to understand; in no way am I trying to justify what I have done to the people, but they made me do it. I would never have manufactured that bomb of my own free will.

Artemis raised an eyebrow sceptically. "You are responsible for thousands of deaths."

Minerva looked as though she was about to cry. "I know, but I didn't know they were going to use it on Haven. I didn't have a choice Artemis! You have to believe me. They… they have Beau."

"What?"

"My little brother. When I refused to work against the fairies, they took him prisoner as leverage against me. They've threatened to kill him if I step out of line." Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears now. "He's all I have left. After papa died last year… I have no one. You must understand."

This threw him for a moment. Artemis could honestly say that for once, he did understand her motives. If it had been the other way round, and Myles and Beckett had been on the line, he wasn't sure what he would have done. He brushed this aside and decided to reserve judgement. It would take a while, but maybe… maybe he could come round and see things from Minerva's point of view. Maybe he could find it in him to, well, not exactly forgive her, but they would certainly be on speaking terms again. He would be a hypocrite if he said she should have sacrificed her brother. Though Holly of course would hate the French genius forever more. Oh god. Holly. He turned back to Minerva, who was anxiously awaiting his reaction. He decided to remain non-committal and spoke brusquely.

"That is of little importance at the moment. What matters is Holly. I must get her back to have any hope of fixing this mess."

Minerva looked at him as though he was insane. "What? You can't go back in there! Do you realise how hard it was to break you out of that building?"

Artemis closed his eyes for a moment. "Yes, I do realise that. And I am grateful for your assistance. But I must save Holly."

"Artemis…"

He opened his eyes once more and stared at her. When he spoke, his voice was gentler than it had been. "Minerva… I am not asking you to help. You have already done enough by helping me escape this far, if they find out what you have done, they will kill you. I must do this next part alone."

She opened her mouth to protest, and then snapped it shut and nodded slowly. "Alright."

"Will you please drop me off at Fowl Manor?"

"Oh, for goodness sake Artemis! The magic must have addled your brain! That's suicide! The first place anyone will look for you is back in Ireland!"

Artemis gave a small grin, an echo of his old vampire smirk, and for a moment, even through the layers of soot and grime, Minerva could see a trace of the old criminal mastermind, of the fourteen- year old boy who had foiled her plans so easily.

"That's exactly what I'm counting on."

* * *

**Okay, I know not much happened here, but I didn't want to write any more in this chapter as the next one needs to be kept all together in one piece.** **Also, Minerva's excuse isn't that great, I know, but I needed to get her out of the way for the sake of plot progression.**

**~Katy**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while. I won't bore you with my tales of woe, I will just apologise. Profusely. I've been having a rough time lately. Real life kinda gave me a bit of a slap in the face and it basically sucked away every last scrap of creativity. **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! You're all great people ^_^**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 14: A Survivor**

**Fowl Manor: Ireland**

Artemis raised a hand at the departing helicopter as it climbed further and further away, soon disappearing into the low cloud cover. It was a grey, drizzly day in Ireland, which completely matched Artemis's mood as he surveyed his home from the end of the long, winding drive. Even from here, it looked desolate and abandoned. The once meticulously manicured lawn was now overgrown; the undergrowth on the edge of the estate that backed onto a forest was beginning to advance into the rose gardens, weeds choking his mother's prized flowers as they claimed the land; the fountain was not working and the water was green and sluggish; even the manor itself had not escaped disrepair. The sandstone walls were dark with damp and ivy was crawling its way up the east wing, and the front entrance was a mess. It was obvious that this was where the military had entered his house as the doorway was in ruins. Even from this distance Artemis could see the rubble lying scattered on the drive, the gaping hole left in the stonework. It reminded him of how it had looked when a certain troll had paid a visit so many years ago.

As he began to walk towards the manor, a sobering thought struck him. He would give anything, every single ounce of his gold to go back to when he was twelve and live out the Fowl Manor siege, even though he was a heartless criminal back then, even though the LEP wanted him dead, even though Holly had hated him. It was still better than this. Having to walk up to his empty home, the inhabitants long dead or captured, and trying to come up with some semblance of a plan whilst all the while, the one person who was still counting on him was being tortured. At the thought of Holly, he sped up; almost breaking into a run by the time he reached the doorway.

It looked even worse up close. The signs of a struggle were everywhere. Smashed windows in the hall, torn carpets, the pale brown dust that coated every surface. There were laser burns on the walls and suits of armour in pieces on the staircase. And the portraits, the century-old portraits of the Fowl family that lined the hall, they were scattered all over the place! There were paintings lying up-ended in piles of rubble, face down on the carpet, there was even one outside on the doorstep. The paint on this one had all run together on the canvas, creating a whirlpool of browns and greens and reds, but still the cold blue Fowl eyes stared menacingly up out of the scene. They seemed to glare accusingly at Artemis as he passed, as though blaming him for the destruction of his ancestral home.

As he stepped over the threshold, Artemis's attention was drawn to a particular pile of rubble just beside the door. Half obscured beneath a large chunk of sandstone was a very familiar looking object. He heaved the stone out of the way and his suspicions were confirmed; it was Butler's beloved Sig-Sauer. Artemis picked the gun up carefully, trying to ignore the surge of emotion that welled up inside him at the thought of his deceased bodyguard. He flicked open the bullet chamber and peered inside. Three bullets left. It would have to do. Artemis knew full well that if there _were_ any hostiles in the manor to shoot, he would most probably miss by miles. However, he pocketed the gun anyway. Somehow, having some form of defence, even if it _was_ next-to-useless, made him feel a lot safer.

Artemis proceeded cautiously down the hallway and up the main staircase. His first objective was to get to the security booth.

* * *

Holly drifted uneasily back into consciousness. Her head was killing her. It felt as though a bull troll was somehow bellowing mating calls into both her ears at once. _Ouch_. Slowly, cautiously due to the ringing in her ears, she sat up. _Woah!_ She nearly fell onto the floor as the room began to spin uncontrollably. Holly closed her eyes for a few seconds and the spinning slowed and then stopped. When she opened them again, the head rush was gone completely though her head still ached slightly. She ignored the pain and looked around. She was in what looked like a small white prison cell. There was a wrought-iron door on one side with a small sliding peephole and a little flap for food to be pushed through. Holly was sitting on a small grey bench that obviously served as a bed. They only other furniture in the room was a tiny sink and a hole in the floor for relieving herself. Nice. These people obviously knew how to entertain guests then.

_Those scientists must have moved me._ She realised. After draining her magic, they had taken a few blood samples and then put her on some sort of drip before going off to examine their newly filled fish tank of magic, chattering excitedly in science-jargon. The drip must have contained some sort of sedative for Holly couldn't remember anything after that. Slowly, hyper-aware of the ringing in her ears, she climbed to her feet and began to shuffle across the floor towards the metal door. The tiles stung her skin where she touched them; they were freezing and her feet were bare. Someone had taken off her filthy LEP suit when she was unconscious for she was now dressed in a thin white hospital gown.

When she reached the door, Holly stopped and looked up. If she stood on her absolute tiptoes, she could just about reach the peephole with her fingertips. That was no use. Instead, she crouched down and rapped on the cat flap sharply. It made a loud clanging sound but didn't open. The echo rang through the tiny cell, reverberating in her head till it throbbed painfully. She rapped again anyway.

"Hello! Is there anybody there?"

No answer.

"Hello! I want to know what's going on! Somebody answer me!" She kept hitting the metal flap, each impact stronger than the last until her knuckles were bruised and bleeding. "HELLO?" from the corner of her eye, Holly noticed a slight movement in the corner. She looked up. The camera on the wall was swivelling to face her. A red light winked cheekily from the casing. Someone was watching. Summoning up the last of her diminishing strength, Holly attacked the cat flap one last time. "ANSWER ME!"

Just as she was about to deliver a final hand-crushing blow, a scraping noise grabbed Holly's attention. She glanced up and found herself staring at a pair of cold grey eyes. She immediately sprang to her feet, glaring at the unknown human. Before she could speak however, the peep-hole slammed shut and the door slid open. Holly gaped at the human before her.

Everything about the man screamed 'danger'. His eyes darted about the room constantly, and whenever they alighted on her, they seemed to bore straight through her; calculating, cold, treacherous. Holly would never trust this human, even if he weren't currently holding her captive. He was dressed smartly, in a full suit, though the effect was ruined somewhat by the prominent paunch that spilled out over the waistline directly at Holly's eye level. As though he was aware of this fact, the man stepped forwards and closed the door before crouching down to her level. Holly glowered at him fiercely though inside she was quaking. The way this human looked at her, with an almost predatory expression, reminded her of a shark. Actually no, he reminded her of something infinitely more dangerous than a shark. He reminded her of Artemis, Artemis before he had changed.

The man spoke and Holly's fierce expression changed to one of confusion. What was he saying? It all sounded foreign to her ears, which made no sense, as she understood all languages. The man spoke again and it hit her. _Oh yeah… they took my magic. _

"I don't understand you." She said in Gnommish. The man didn't appear too put out by this, in fact, if anything, his grin stretched wider. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black object that Holly immediately recognised. It was one of Foaly's translators. The man reached forwards and placed it beside her ear.

"Is that better?"

Holly nodded mutely.

"Good. Because that's our last translator, and this will be the last intelligent conversation you have with anyone in a looong time," he grinned. "So… Captain Short. How are you feeling? Don't bother answering. I can't understand a word of Gnommish anyway." he leaned forwards in his seat and grinned. "My name is Graham Henderson. I just wanted to let you know, that human you were brought in with? Well, he escaped this morning."

Holly's mouth fell open. Artemis was gone? He'd gotten away? For a moment, a fleeting joy welled up inside her only to be crushed back down by realisation; he was gone. He'd abandoned her here, in this Frond-awful place. She looked back up at the man, who was grinning like a fat Cheshire cat.

"Yes," he said. "He got away. We traced him to Ireland though. The stupid kid tried to go back to his own house. Needless to say, we're catching up with him as we speak. The army will be at the manor in about an hour or so. I just though you might like to know that your human's as good as dead."

* * *

Artemis was confused. Now, for those people who aren't familiar with the behavioural characteristics of the teenage genius, I shall clarify something; Artemis Fowl II was never confused. Or perplexed. Or dumbfounded. Or bewildered. Or puzzled. Ever. It just didn't suit his character. If there was something that Artemis Fowl didn't completely comprehend first time, he would immediately look it up and seconds later, he would be a walking encyclopaedia on the subject. He didn't get confused. And yet here he was; sitting in his security booth, facing a computer screen, with an utterly bewildered expression on his face.

The cause for this bewilderment was currently flashing up on the 24-inch computer screen in big red letters.

'ACCESS DENIED.'

Artemis stared at the pop-up, as though he could will it to disappear with his mind. How on earth could the computer deny him access? It was voice-encrypted for heaven's sake! After the incident with Jayjay that led to Opal escaping, Artemis had completely upgraded his security systems, making them accessible only to him. It worked on technology from his c-cube, using the same made-up language for its various pass-codes and lockdowns. The password had to be spoken by Artemisat an exact rate of words-per-second, with precise emphasis on the pitch, et-cetera; there was no way someone could have broken through. The entire manor system was almost as unbreakable as his eternity code, even Foaly had yet to accomplish it.

And yet somehow someone had managed. Artemis frowned. He had to regain control and find out who the perpetrator was. With an exhausted sigh, he leant forwards and got to work, beginning the arduous process of hacking into _his_ _own_ system.

Half an hour later, a semi-functional computer sat before him. He had managed to unlock most of the basic functions; CCTV and such, but the more complex programmes were still beyond Artemis's reach. He was practically tearing his hair out with frustration by this point. Taking deep steadying breaths, Artemis brought up the CCTV cameras and projected a different room onto each of the screens before him. Before long, he could see every room in the manor. Everything seemed still and quiet. The only movement came from the windows, where fat drops of rain snaked down the glass frames. It had gotten heavier now; Artemis could hear it even inside the windowless security booth. For a moment, he listened to the pattering. It was almost soothing just to take a moment to stop and listen to the rain. He hadn't realised just how stressed he was till he took a moment to pause. It felt like he had been on the run from something or other for so long now, even if it had only been a couple of weeks. And things were just getting worse and worse.

Without really noticing what they were looking at, Artemis's eyes alighted on a screen near the bottom of the wall. It was showing a somewhat fuzzy image of his lab. Frowning slightly, he rapped the side of the monitor lightly. Nothing changed. The spot of interference was still there. But then, Artemis knew full well that hitting technological objects to fix them only worked in the movies. In real life you were more likely to break them than actually do any good. Intrigued by the issue, Artemis transferred the camera feed to the main computer monitor, a 40-inch plasma screen in the centre of the wall. He zoomed in on the image. By now, some people might be wondering why Artemis was taking such an interest in the fuzzy patch. Well, his system didn't _have_ fuzzy patches. It was all state of the art, the highest of the high-definition. If there was something on the screen that shouldn't be there, it meant that there was something in the room that shouldn't be there. And the only thing Artemis could think of that made _that_ kind of shimmer, was a shielded fairy.

Did he dare to hope? Could someone have survived?

He squinted at the plasma display for a few seconds, then rewound and froze the image, enlarging it till it filled the entire screen. His updated system kept the figure in crystal-clear focus, though Artemis didn't need _that _to see who it was.

"Oh my God."

* * *

**Ta daaa! There. I'm back with the cliffies. Sorry! Hopefully the next update will be a bit sooner. I'm away to start writing it right now. **

**_Who do you think it is? _**

**_What is going on at Fowl Manor?_**

**_What is going to happen to Holly?_**

**Pleeeeeaaase send the writer a review! She's just had a huge confidence knock and could do with a little cheering up at this rubbishy rubbishy time 0.0**

**~Katy x**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter. You guys are great at making an author feel loved ^_^**

**I got some interesting theories as to who it might be, and a couple of people guessed it right! So well done you.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 15: The Unexpected Houseguest**

**Fowl Manor: Ireland**

Artemis leapt to his feet, not taking his eyes off the diminutive figure before him. How was this possible?

Frozen on the screen, halfway through turning away from the camera, was a _very_ familiar pixie. The black hair had halted mid-swing, covering the majority of her features, but there was no mistaking her. The catlike stance, the childlike proportions, the cold dark eyes… it was Opal Koboi.

Why was it that he always seemed to get the worst luck possible? Surely the fates had ran out of bad karma for his past misdeeds by now? He sighed. Of all the fairies to have survived the siege, it had to be her. Now he would have to go and deal with a deranged pixie instead of focusing on saving Holly.

Indecisively, Artemis got to his feet and pulled Butler's gun from his pocket.

* * *

She must have heard the deadbolt lock opening, for when Artemis opened the door, Opal was already facing him. Her face barely showed any surprise as he entered the room, shutting the door behind him. Her dark eyes appraised him warily, taking in his ragged appearance before finally speaking.

"My gods. The mud whelp's gone feral."

Artemis glanced in the mirror on the mantelpiece. Okay, so he could hardly be called his usual manicured self, but surely that could be excused in light of recent events. His suit jacket and tie had been discarded somewhere in Haven, leaving the thin shirt to the mercy of the dust and debris that had been strewn across every spare surface. It was covered in tiny tears and rips, and had slowly transformed from a crisp white to muddy brown. The dust was also in his hair, giving it a slight greyish tinge. This, coupled with the faint five o'clock shadow on his chin, made him look older than his years. In fact Artemis bore a scary resemblance to his father. Of course, his clothes were also covered with blood, as was his face where his nose had been broken a few hours earlier. His eyes were wild looking, darting this way and that even as he scrutinised himself. He found that he was constantly on the lookout for danger, even though it was quite obvious where the danger was at this moment.

"Koboi." He raised the hand with the gun, pointing it shakily at the deranged pixie.

She sighed impatiently and flicked her long black hair. As it caught the light, Artemis noticed that it wasn't quite the same as when he'd last seen her. It seemed to have lost much of its lustre, and now hung limply in straggles from her head. Then again, she had been presumably cooped up in Fowl Manor for over a year now.

"You don't have the guts to kill me mud boy."

He held the gun steadier. "Really? How much would you bet on that? He grinned smugly, the total opposite of what he was currently feeling. "I've gone feral, remember?"

He was surprised to see a flicker of doubt pass across Opal's face. It was only there for a second, and was immediately replaced by a look of steely determination. "If you were going to shoot me, you already would have. No. You're planning something, human."

She was right. The cogs in Artemis's brain were currently working overtime as he attempted to foresee the possible results of this confrontation. Opal had survived the siege on his house, and for some reason, was still here.

"Why are you in my house?" he asked flatly. "It's been a year. The LEP aren't holding you captive any more, you know."

"I know that." She snapped. "I was there when the humans took over, remember?"

Artemis stepped forwards, advancing slowly into the centre of the room. The gun in his left hand never faltered from its target; the pixie's brain. "Yes, and how did you survive? That's what I want to know."

Opal sighed. "Why should I tell you? I could just kill you instead."

"With what? You have nothing. And I highly doubt you're about to overpower me with brute force. You're not even half my height, remember?"

She scowled and he smirked back, leaning casually against the now-closed door. "So what are you going to do, Koboi?"

The tiny pixie crossed her arms in defiance and opened her mouth to send back a biting retort, but her voice was drowned out by a sudden roaring sound. She looked up, confused.

Artemis was already headed towards the nearest window. He squinted up into the sky. Descending slowly towards the manor's front lawn was a large jet-black helicopter. And this time it wasn't Minerva's. Emblazoned across the side were the letters M15. As he watched, it touched down on the grass, swaying a little like a puppet on a string. The propellers slowly wound down, the wind buffeting the nearby trees ceased and the engines shut off. The sight of the doors sliding open and dark figures emerging with riot shields finally stirred Artemis into action. He spun round, eyes wild. "Opal. The human military are here."

Her eyes widened but she made no sound. Instead, she chose to make a break for the door and sprint down the long hallway. Artemis cursed and rushed after her. He was not about to let Opal Koboi go and get captured by the British secret service, she could come in handy.

"Koboi! Come back here!" the pixie turned and to Artemis's surprise, her eyes were wide and frightened. He had never seen her frightened before, he hadn't even though it was possible. Psychopaths didn't tend to scare easily.

"They can't get me! I saw what they did to the others! I need to hide!" Opal was literally hopping from foot to foot in her haste to conceal herself. Artemis was fairy certain the only thing stopping her was the loaded gun in his hand. He stared at her for a moment. Something seriously strange had happened to the pixie, she usually reeked of self-confidence; this Opal was almost the exact opposite. She seemed borderline hysterical.

"Listen. They're here for me. I can draw them away but you'll need to help me." he turned and walked briskly back the way he'd come, keeping his appearance calm and in control, though inside he was still reeling from the extreme change in his enemy. He was somewhat surprised when Opal cursed under her breath and slowly began to follow him. He hadn't been sure if she would, but this plan would never work without her co-operation. He needed two sets of brains to execute it in time. Downstairs, he could already hear the soldiers entering the manor. The deathly silence was now punctuated by sharp orders and yelling as someone presumably marshalled the men into some sort of search party. Artemis thanked his lucky stars the manor was so large; he estimated it would take them at least five minutes to search their way up to his lab.

Speeding up, he swung round the doorframe of the lab in question and crossed the room at a jog, weaving through a jumbling mess of circuits and machinery. Wires twisted across the floor, plunging into strange contraptions and resurfacing once more on the other side, where they twined upwards towards the ceiling. All around him, lights were flashing erratically on every spare surface. Ignoring all of this, he crossed to a spare desk and pulled out a heavily updated laptop, placing it on the surface and powering it up.

Opal stopped a few feet away. "What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"We need to make them think they've killed me." Artemis answered shortly. "To do that, I need your help. When the military raided Fowl Manor, what did they do?"

Opal frowned. "They killed everyone on site. They only missed me because I'd escaped during the fight and hid. I still had enough magic to shield, and obviously, with my advanced abilities, they couldn't detect me."

Artemis waved her on impatiently, no longer interested in how she had escaped. "What about the other fairies? How did they kill them?"

She gaped for a moment. "What? Why are you asking me that?"

"Just answer the question Koboi."

The pixie huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, if you really want to know, they used the same technology they used to destroy Haven. Someone miniaturised it down to laser form so it could be used on one person at a time, rather than wiping out everything in a certain radius. It was quite ingenious really."

"So they were vaporised?" She nodded. "Did you see it happen?"

"Yes…" her eyes narrowed to slits. "But why-?"

"-Good." He cut her off and, without another word, Artemis brought up a program on his computer. He had just perfected it weeks before he was dragged into this mess and he could only pray that it worked. It had never been tested on live subjects before. Downstairs, he could hear the voices getting louder. They didn't have much time. He hurried to the other side of the room and pulled a square box out of a pile of equipment. Without hesitation, he connected it to his laptop and then ran the wire out so that the box rested on the windowsill overlooking the manor grounds.

"Is that a-"

"Projector? Yes it is. Pass me that filter will you?"

Opal did as she was told; too busy figuring out his plan to complain about being ordered around. Suddenly, her dark eyes lit up and an evil smile spread across her face. "You're going to make them shoot a projection?" she said, a tone of awe colouring her voice.

Artemis paused for a moment and looked round at the pixie in surprise. When she realised her mistake, she quickly added in her usual superior tone, "I thought of that ages ago. Don't go getting above yourself, mud scum."

He shook his head and turned back to the projector box. The plan itself was quite simple; using Foaly's old technology, Artemis was going to send a computer-generated image of himself running across the lawn. The soldiers would spot him and most likely shoot him on sight, with the vaporiser guns. It was the same basic principle that the centaur had employed during their mission at the Spiro Needle; computer-generated Artemis would do whatever he wanted and on cameras, it would look like the real thing. Except, with the help of the state-of-the-art projector, Artemis was taking it to the next level. He was creating a three-dimensional Artemis Fowl to escape. And Opal was going to kill him.

He turned to the pixie. "You need to create the effect of me being vaporised in the exact same way as I would be if they actually shot me," he explained hurriedly. "I cannot do it myself as I have never actually witnessed it happening. The program is open on the computer."

Opal nodded and hurried over to the laptop, where she began working furiously. Outside the room, Artemis flinched as he heard voices. They were deep and male and were coming from immediately outside the lab door. He watched as the doorknob slowly turned. Nothing happened.

"Hey! There's a keypad!" he heard someone shout outside.

"Well, blast it you moron!" came the charming reply. The next second, the sound of several somethings exploding off the metal door reached his ears. They still had a couple of minutes.

"Fowl!" came a voice from behind him. Artemis spun round. Opal was glaring at him expectantly. "It's ready."

He nodded and hurried over to the projector.

* * *

Down in the grounds, a second Artemis Fowl Jr shimmered into existence. He looked left and right, and then with a swiftness previously unheard of by anyone who had known the boy, he began to sprint towards the main gate.

Slowly, one by one, the men registered the teen's presence. They began to turn, pointing a variety of weapons at him. One man pulled out a walkie-talkie. "We've located Fowl. He's attempting an escape across the southeast lawn. Permission to detain?"

"Negative Corporal. This human's been too much trouble. Vaporize on sight."

"Affirmative. Over and out."

The soldier calmly drew a weapon and pumped three laser bursts into the chest of the running teenager. All three met their mark.

Far above, from his lofty vantage point at the window, Artemis winced and turned to Opal. "Now!" he yelled.

The pixie grinned. "Oh, I am going to enjoy this." she slammed a hand down on the button.

Down below, the computer-generated boy stumbled as he was hit once, twice, three times. He slowed down and then, all of a sudden; an orange flame blossomed across the centre of his chest. He cried out and the flame flared for a moment, and then was gone. For a moment, he stood there, looking unharmed, and then silently, without warning, the boy dissolved into dust. A gust of wind caught the ashes as they floated towards the ground and they dissipated across the lawn. All that was left of Artemis Fowl was a dense human shaped shadow on the grass.

The soldier down below holstered his weapon. "Job done."

* * *

Artemis and Opal watched in silence as the men left the house and made their way back across the grounds. One by one, they filed back into the helicopter and it took off once more. Soon, it was no more than a dot in the distance. Artemis turned to the fairy, about to speak, but looked around in surprise when he realised she was no longer standing beside him with the laptop.

"Fowl," he spun round. Opal was standing next to his desk where, in his haste, Artemis had discarded the gun. The pixie had clearly taken advantage of this distraction as she was now pointing it at him, an evil smile on her face.

Artemis sighed wearily. "You can't kill me."

"Oh yes I can," she cackled. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this."

"You can't kill me, because if you do, how are you ever going to get out of this house?"

Opal shook her head. "Easy. I don't need you for that." Her fingers began to tighten around the trigger and Artemis's shoulders sagged just a little. He didn't have enough energy to put up a fight.

Surprisingly, the shot never came. Opal looked from the gun to Artemis, then back down to the gun again. Finally, she lowered it with a sigh. "Alright. I can't kill you. I need you alive."

Artemis smiled, and there was a trace of smugness back in his features. "Exactly. No matter how much I detest having to say this, we need to help each other right now."

It was true, they did. Opal was quite obviously a fairy. She was out of magic, stuck on the surface, with nowhere to go. If she left the safety of the manor, sooner or later she would be spotted and killed. Anything she could construct to disguise her appearance involved leaving the manor to get it and for that she needed a human accomplice. Artemis on the other hand, needed help getting Holly back. He knew full well he wouldn't be able to break back into the M15 headquarters without someone backing him up.

Opal exhaled loudly and dropped the gun. It landed on the carpet with a thud. "Fine. I admit… I admit that I… I…"

"Yes?"

"…I need help. There. You made me say it." she scowled. "I suggest we call a temporary truce, until this whole issue is sorted out."

Artemis inclined his head. "Very well. But I'll need your word."

"Right fine." The pixie looked very uncomfortable, and cast her eyes up to the ceiling as she intoned a very legal-sounding statement in a dull voice. "I, Opal Fern Koboi, solemnly give you, Artemis Fowl, my word that from this moment, I will not make any attempt to take your life, double-cross you, reveal you to the humans or otherwise inconvenience you in any way. I swear to assist you with your mission of restoring order to the planet and will hold to this vow until either I am incapable of fulfilling it due to personal injury, or we succeed in our mission. After that time, our agreement is void and I may resume my attempts on your life as before. I solemnly swear this on my book." She paused. "And just so you know, this doesn't change anything. I still hate you."

That was probably the best thing he was going to get out of her. "Don't worry, the feeling's mutual." Artemis cleared his throat. "Okay. I accept your arrangement." He stepped forwards and held out a pale hand. "Shake on it." Opal stared at the extended hand with a degree of suspicion. "It's a human custom." Artemis explained. With some consternation, Opal reached forwards and gingerly shook the hand offered to her, letting go extremely quickly.

It was a cinematic moment. The setting sun blazed through the window, casting a fiery glow across the whole room, and in the centre, the two sworn enemies shook hands, ready to put aside their differences and work together to take down a common foe.

* * *

**Ooh! ****Dramaticy-ness! **

**So… what did you think of that? Not only is Opal alive, she is now working with Artemis. Gaargh! The universe is imploding!**

**There was no Holly in this chapter, sorry about that, but she'll be back next time. And no, she's not having fun. **

**Will Artemis and Opal be able to co-operate? Does the pixie have a secret agenda? Will Artemis ever get Holly back?**

**Please review! I like to know your thoughts on where this is heading. Please note, you can only make a difference if you review.**

**~Katy **


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry I took ages to post. I really have no excuse since this has been sitting on my laptop waiting for me to edit it for the last week. Again, sorry! Anyway, Opal might seem a bit OOC in this, but it's intentional.**

* * *

**Chapter 16: A Tentative Alliance **

**Fowl Manor: Ireland**

It had been over a week since Artemis had arrived back at Fowl Manor and encountered Opal. It had been over a week since he'd requested her assistance with getting Holly back. And since then, he'd been pleasantly surprised to discover that he and Opal actually _could_ work together, when they really tried. All it had taken was the destruction of her people by someone _other_ than her, and an extreme blow to her self-confidence to bring the pixie down a couple of notches. And Artemis found that, when she was no longer trying to kill him or constantly indulging in her egotistical rants, Opal was actually a good lab partner. In fact, she was a very good lab partner. For one thing, their minds were disconcertingly similar, and Artemis found that whenever Opal voiced an opinion or an idea, he himself had been considering something similar. Also, she was the first person (other than Foaly) who actually understood what he was talking about more than fifty-percent of the time.

Now, just because she was temporarily on his side didn't mean he trusted her. Far from it. Artemis found himself with either a fairy handgun or Butler's Sig Sauer constantly by his side and he watched the pixie's every movement with an intensity bordering on paranoia.

But even still, they _did_ work well together.

* * *

Opal was curled catlike in an office chair when Artemis strode into the room. She didn't acknowledge the human's presence as he came to stand beside her, frowning slightly at the readouts displayed on her computer screen.

"That's a lot of security. Anything new?" He said flatly.

Opal brought up a hastily compiled list on her screen. The pixie had made herself busy hacking into M15's secure database to try and figure out what exactly they were going up against when they attempted to rescue Holly. The main part of the building, the part that was open to the 'public' wasn't that bad. It was down at the lower levels, the top-secret division, where things started to get complicated. So far, to their knowledge the building contained: over 100 heavily armed military professionals, the LEP's entire stock of neutrino handguns, top of the range security cameras that could easily penetrate a fairy shield, countless laser scanners, alarm systems, pressure pads, key code locks, biometric scanners, alarm systems, foot patrols, and DNA cannons straight from the ruins of the old Koboi labs…

Opal was taking the last one a bit personally. "I mean, I did invent them!" she blurted out, not for the first time that morning. "They have no right to just come along and steal my inventions. They are sooooo going at the top of my 'to kill' list. Sorry Fowl, you've been demoted from top spot."

"That's a shame. I'm sorry to hear that."

Opal shrugged and continued, completely oblivious to the human's sarcasm. "There is no way we are getting in there unaided, even when taking into consideration my utter brilliance."

"The problem is that they have most of your and all of Foaly's technology. Anything we try using that, they'll be expecting and will be two steps ahead the whole time."

She scowled and nodded. "Much as I hate to admit it Fowl, you're right. We will have to create something from scratch."

* * *

A few days later, the pair had come up with some semblance of a plan. They knew what they were going to use to get into the M15 building. They just had to make it. And that involved materials. Materials which would have to be acquired from outside the safety of the manor.

Artemis stepped back as the garage door slid upwards, displaying the Fowl family's five gleaming cars. Even though they had been locked up and abandoned for months now, they hadn't gained a scratch. For a moment, Artemis dithered, considering taking the Bentley. _No, it'll be too ostentatious,_ he finally decided, turning instead towards the least expensive-looking car of the lineup. A sleek black Volvo bought by Artemis senior with the intention of teaching his son to drive. Sadly, due to both father and son's hectic lifestyles, there had only been one lesson so far. And needless to say it hadn't gone well. That is, unless you count crashing into the fountain twice as 'going well'. Nonetheless, Artemis climbed in, pulling at his jacket self-consciously. He had donned typical 'teenager' clothing in an attempt to blend in on the streets of Dublin, where he was headed. Though this wouldn't help him much, since the items on his shopping list were not the type of things a normal teenager would buy. Taking a deep breath, he switched on the ignition and edged slowly down the driveway. He only stalled once which was quite impressive for him. Artemis hesitated at the gates, peering up and down the narrow country road for any signs of an ambush. He was wearing his reflective sunglasses and there was no sign of human or fairy anywhere. Sure enough, when he did finally pull out onto the road, no one followed him. But then why would they? The government thought he was dead. The only person who knew of his continued existence was Opal Koboi and she wasn't likely to set him up. She wanted to escape this mess just as much as he did.

He didn't have much trouble once he reached Dublin. Most of the shopkeepers didn't even blink when he reeled off his strange requests. The only time someone looked at him strangely was in the jewellers, where he requested three wristbands made from silver-coated platinum with diamond inlays.

"I'm sorry young man," the storekeeper said, pulling at his tie in a flustered manner. "But I don't quite think you realise what you are requesting." He looked down at the crumpled specification before him. "That amount of platinum would cost over-" he did a quick mental calculation. "700 euros each! And with the diamonds…" the man looked the teenager before him up and down. He certainly didn't _look_ able to afford such pricey jewellery. He was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a t-shirt with graffiti-style writing scrawled across it. His dark hair was spiked up erratically and covering his eyes was a pair of dark sunglasses with a crack in one lens. Certainly not what a millionaire's son would be caught wearing. The boy tapped his thin fingers on the glass desk impatiently, causing small foggy imprints where his hands touched it. The shopkeeper resisted the urge to pull out the cloth he kept behind the desk and scrub it clean again. Instead, he breathed in sharply and forced himself to meet the teen's eyes. "unless you have a few thousand euros stuck up your sleeve, I don't think you'll be able to afford it."

The boy sighed and turned to face the window. "Mr Patterson. I am not making an unreasonable request here. If one of your older clients came through this door asking about custom-made jewellery, I highly doubt you would be this uncooperative."

"Yes, but-"

"No buts. I have the money, and I am willing to pay." The boy pulled a wallet out of his back pocket and flourished a huge wad of cash at the clerk. "I trust this amount will suffice if I ask you to have them ready by this afternoon?"

He reached out a hand and hesitantly took the cash, rifling through it slowly. As his count entered the triple digits, the man's eyes began to widen. Eventually, he stopped counting altogether and placed the pile of money beneath the desk. He straightened up smoothly, straightening his tie. "Certainly, master…"

"…Bashkir."

"Master Bashkir. I shall have your order ready by closing time. It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

The young man smiled and left the shop. It was only after he had returned later to pick up his order that it occurred to the clerk that perhaps the money had not been acquired legally. After all, teenagers _were_ notorious for stealing. To quieten his conscience, the clerk quickly pulled out the cash and rifled through it once more. The crisp smell of money soon quelled his unease.

When he was safely back inside the manor, Artemis pulled off his sunglasses and heaved a huge sigh of relief, flattening his gelled hair. No-one had recognised him. Then again, he thought as he hauled his shopping upstairs, who would? He'd been missing for over a year, and he doubted even Holly would identify him at first glance when he was wearing these clothes. If they could even be _called_ clothes.

On his way to his room to change, he stopped outside his lab and listened carefully. He couldn't hear anything. Slowly, he keyed in the code and pushed it open. Opal was standing in the centre of the room wearing a pair of his v-gloves. She had cleared a large space around her and was typing frantically into thin air. Around her, strings of glowing blue Gnommish spiralled through the air seemingly erratically. But there was a pattern to them, of that, Artemis was sure. Opal's eyes flicked deftly from one stream of letters to the other. As he watched, she lifted one hand and made a grabbing motion. A glowing blue box shape flew into focus and she yanked it towards her, using the other hand to guide various components into place.

The pixie was so focused on her work, she didn't even register Artemis's presence till he shut the door. She glanced up, smirking a little as she took in the human's uncharacteristic appearance. "Oh. It's you."

"Nice to see you too Koboi." Artemis replied coolly. He strode through the maze of holographic shapes and dumped the shopping bags on a spare desk.

"Did you get everything?" Opal asked, lowering her hands for a moment. Around them, the blue images fell simultaneously, coinciding with her movement.

He nodded. "There were no major issues. And I got the wristbands made."

"Good. Then we can begin."

* * *

In the grey streets of London far above the whitewashed room, it was raining. Though it was not heavy, the dull drizzle was the kind that soaked everything, no matter how long it was exposed to the weather. Commuters were scurrying to and fro like ants on the streets, gradually separating from the masses once they reached their own offices and ducking inside. They would spend the rest of the morning sitting soggily at their desks, wishing the clouds away in time for their evening journey home.

Down, deep down below the streets, Holly inhaled heavily. Her sensitive elfin senses could pick up the damp scent of rain even this far down. It had drifted in through her door when a plate of food had been pushed in earlier, and it was driving her insane. She would give anything to be up there, to feel the wind on her face and the moisture in the air. This was a million times worse than being at home in Haven. At least there she wasn't cooped up like some animal. She had still had her freedom then. Nowadays, it was a very different story. Holly had been in this same cell for a little over a week now, and she was hating every second. Since that Henderson guy had left with the translator, not one human had spoken to her. They gave her food, and took blood samples once a day, they conducted scores of medical tests, but they never said a single word. Not that she'd be able to understand them if they did.

The solitude was one of the worst things. Holly was an elf, and elves were by nature very sociable creatures. The constant silence was making her ears hurt. And it left her far too much time to think. She thought of how they had gotten into this situation, how they might have done things differently. She wondered what in Frond's name had happened to Qwan and Mulch. She thought of the war, and how barbaric the humans were. She cursed Abbot for getting them into this mess when he wasn't even alive to suffer for it. She thought of Haven, broken and littered with sooty shadows of her old friends, her old family. Most of all though, Holly thought of Artemis.

How could Artemis belong to the same species as this? How could he be even remotely related to these… these _monsters _who drugged her and tested her, pulling her in and out of consciousness until she didn't even know what was a dream and what was real?

Artemis was a human. Humans were evil. Was he evil too? In the beginning, when she had shouted at him, she hadn't really meant what she'd said, but now, hooked up to cruel machines and treated like an animal, Holly was beginning to doubt her resolve.

Artemis wasn't like other humans, or was he?

He had been the one human she'd fully trusted. The one person she had finally allowed to break through her defences. The one person she'd ever… no. She couldn't use the _'L'_ word to describe her muddled feelings towards the boy. Not anymore. He had betrayed her in the worst possible way when he abandoned her here. She wondered where he was now. Did he feel _any_ guilt over what he had done?

* * *

**There are going to be a couple more… unactiony chapters as Arty and Opal figure out what to do, but I've got it all planned out now and know more or less exactly what is going in each remaining chapter. **

**I will try and get a bit more posted in the Easter holidays. I'm aiming to get this fic finished long before the summer holidays.**

**Please ****review****! It helps me update so much faster. Especially since the holidays started on Friday and I will have a whole 2 weeks to write. (Instead of studying for exams but oh well!)**

_**What do you think of Holly's situation?**_

_**What do you think Arty and Opal's idea is?**_

_**How are they going to do this?**_

_**Will Opal betray Artemis? Hmmm… I wonder…**_

**Review!**

**~Katy **


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! **

**Oh, and is anyone else anxiously awaiting Eoin Colfer's new book? I am.**

* * *

**Chapter 17: A Short-Lived Betrayal**

The first and only time Opal tried to double cross Artemis happened on a Sunday morning almost a month later. They were extremely close to finishing the perception-filter wristbands. Every program had been installed into the tiny microchip on the inside of the bracelet and all that remained to be done was to permeate them with magic. If Artemis's theories were correct, the silver coating over the platinum would effectively act as an insulator, keeping in the magic once it had been added. If they added to magic to the bracelets, it should theoretically turn the user invisible. Not in the sense that they couldn't be seen, for of course, fairy shielding was just high-frequency vibrations. No, the magic coupled with the technology would make the user not invisible, but unnoticeable. They would still be seen, but no one would recognise them with the wristbands on even if they knew them.

"So how are we going to do this, mud boy? I have no magic left."

Artemis shifted uncomfortably. Opal was out of magic and she didn't know that he had any. He wasn't sure what the consequences of revealing this to her would be, but he didn't really have a choice. He cleared his throat. "I have magic. I'll do it."

The pixie's reaction was almost too predictable. She straightened up and looked directly at Artemis, eyes narrowing. "_You_ have magic?"

He nodded slowly, hand already going for the neutrino in his pocket. Sure enough, the next second, Opal's nostrils flared and she leapt at him, fingers outstretched. She was no more than a metre from him when she noticed the LEP gun in Artemis's hand. She stopped mid-lunge and back-pedalled furiously as he pointed it at her cranium.

"You wouldn't dare." She snarled. Her hands twitched, as though itching to reach out and throttle the human before her. The only thing that kept her from doing just that was the fear of a laser-burst to the skull, which for a pixie, could be potentially fatal. She settled for screeching in frustration instead. "I _need_ that magic, mud whelp!"

Artemis didn't flinch. He carefully controlled his features, keeping his face unreadable as he slowly advanced on the pixie. He had to get this right. If Opal managed to take the supply of magic he had left, there was no doubt she would kill him on the spot and then proceed to run amok. "Opal," he said quietly, his voice barely rising above a whisper. This served in forcing the pixie to halt her rant so she could hear him, which was an added bonus.

"What?" she snapped, slowly inching forwards as she spoke.

Artemis held the gun steadier. "You made an oath. You swore by your book not to kill, double cross, or inconvenience me in any way."

Opal stopped her sneaky attempts to get closer to the human. "What?"

"You swore by your book," He repeated, "You know what happens if a fairy breaks an oath on her book."

The pixie's eyes narrowed. "Of _course_ I know, human! I'm not some kind of… of… of…" she fell silent and her eyes widened as she came to the realisation of what she herself had done. All of a sudden, Opal screeched out loud, throwing her head back and letting out the biggest scream of frustration Artemis had ever heard. He jumped back a couple of feet. He hadn't known such a small being could make such a loud noise. "AAAARGH! Curse you mud whelp! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! D'Arvit! You knew this would happen! Right from the beginning! Frond! You made me swear on my book because you knew! You knew I would try and take your magic! And you knew that if I did, I would lose it as soon as I tried!"

Artemis had recovered his composure and was now standing serenely as he watched the pixie before him lose it big time. "Of course I knew. I always plan for every possible outcome. If you try and take my magic by force, that would very much inconvenience me, and as such, you will be breaking our agreement. Since this oath was made over your book, if you break it, you forfeit your magic."

"I know that mud boy! Shut up!" Opal was starting to calm down now, her look of fury being replaced by an intense disappointment. She seemed to deflate before Artemis's eyes, until eventually, she gave in and turned away, collapsing into the nearest chair. "You are _the_ most annoying human I have ever met."

Artemis grinned his vampire grin. "I do try."

* * *

Since that morning, everything had been going according to plan. Apart from a few baleful looks, Opal was back to normal. They were down in the basement of the manor, in Holly's old cell. Artemis was just about to attempt to add his magic to the bracelets. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor; all three silver-plated bands were laid out in a neat row before him. One for him, one for Opal, and if all went according to plan, one for Holly.

"Start with that one," said Opal, pointing at the one on the farthest right. She was kneeling on the battered metal cot behind Artemis, peering over his shoulder. Artemis nodded and picked up the bracelet she had indicated.

"Alright. You are going to have to tell me how to do this, Koboi."

The pixie rolled her eyes. "What have you used your magic for in the past?"

Artemis thought. "Healing mostly. Myself and others. Oh, and I once tried to shield. It didn't do anything, I think a human's body mass is too great to sustain such high frequency vibrations, but it was definitely shielding magic. I could feel my arms vibrating."

Behind him, Opal nodded. "Good. Try and shield again, but this time, direct your magic. Channel it down your arm and into the bracelet. Ten seconds should do it."

"Okay." Artemis closed his eyes and called up the sparks, igniting them from inside the tiny corner of his brain. They filled up his mind, clamouring to be let out. This time, he let them. He pushed the hot feeling down his left arm, concentrating all his focus into the single point where his skin touched the silver bracelet. He could feel it heating up in his hand and opened his eyes. The blue sparks were congregating at his fingers; leaping and swirling round and round before sinking into the silver band. His arm felt funny, like he had pins and needles. If he watched it closely, it seemed to be shimmering slightly, as though he was seeing it through a heat haze. It wasn't quite invisible, yet it wasn't quite all there either.

"… Six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Opal called out, "we're done!"

With a sigh of relief, Artemis let go of the magic, allowing it to recede back into his brain for the time being. He looked at the bracelet still clasped in his hand. It seemed to be shimmering slightly, just as his arm had done a few moments previously. "Did it work?" he asked no one in particular.

"I think so," Opal said from beside him. She had slid off the bed and joined him in his inspection of the band. "Lets have a look." She held out a small hand and Artemis passed it to her without protest. The pixie slid it over her wrist and stood back.

Almost immediately, Artemis blinked in confusion. "Who are you?"

The dark-haired human before him smirked and folded her arms. "Well, I guess they do work, huh, mud whelp? It's me, Opal."

"Opal?" He squinted at the person before him but every time he tried to get a closer look at her features, his brain seemed to stop him. "Wow. Those things are good."

The woman before him shook her wrist and the silver wristband slid off, clattering to the floor. Artemis blinked once more and was relieved to see that Opal had reverted back to her usual self. It was the most disconcerting feeling to see someone and know who they were at the same time as your brain told you it wasn't them.

Opal grinned. "One perception filter successfully completed, two to go."

Smiling at their success, Artemis picked up the next band. Not long now before they could successfully mount a rescue…

* * *

Holly had grown to hate them, to despise them with every fibre of her being. These creatures that tied her up and never let her see the sun, or the moon. Her magic had been drained long ago, and there was barely a drop left. All she had retained was the single spark necessary for survival. Even her gift of tongues had run dry. The humans' speech no longer made sense to her; they spoke in an alien tongue that hurt her head. She longed to finally speak to someone. To have _someone _who understood her. How long had it been since she had last held an intelligent conversation with someone? She didn't know the answer. She had lost track of time long ago; had she been here for days? Months? Even years? She didn't know. Time had no meaning here; in a bright world of harsh electric lights, which never dimmed, never went off.

The only inkling Holly had that time was indeed passing was her daily routine. Every morning, a human scientist would come in and take a small vial of blood. He would inject another substance into her arm. She recognised it as some sort of sleeping drug, for immediately afterwards, she would black out for an indeterminable period of time. When she woke next, there would be food waiting for her which she ate readily, neither knowing nor caring what it contained. After she had finished, another human would escort her on a brisk walk through the corridors of the facility, presumably for exercise. Then she would be returned to her cell where she would be left until the scientist returned the next day for her blood sample.

This monotonous routine was undoubtedly designed to break her spirit and unfortunately for Holly, it was working. She was no longer the fiery LEP captain that she had once been. Long days of doing nothing had left her lethargic and disinterested in life. She had ceased her escape attempts a long time ago. All that was left to Holly now was hate. Fiery, burning hate that sizzled through her when she thought of the human race and what they had done to her people, to her. It coursed through her veins when she moved, slipped through her dreams when she slept. She clung to it, embraced it. The feeling of overwhelming hatred was the only thing that made Holly sure she was still alive.

* * *

Opal and Artemis were sat at the manor's main dining table; a mammoth construction made from the finest ebony money could buy. It took up the majority of the room, and was an environmentalist's nightmare. Nonetheless, Artemis's father had not seen fit to get rid of it since it had been in the family for six generations. It was the type of table one could easily imagine a group of crime lords sitting at, smoking cigars and playing poker as they plotted to take over the world. And indeed, for a long time, this had been the table's main purpose. Up until very recently, when Artemis Fowl senior decided to turn over a new leaf, this had been where he held the majority of his meetings; shady affairs that even Artemis junior didn't know the full details of. These days of course, the dining table sat lonely and unused. Angeline, as part of her determination to make the Fowls more of a 'family', had insisted that they have their meals round the smaller, and infinitely more welcoming, kitchen table. People rarely entered the dining room anymore, and it had become cold and lonely with disuse.

Artemis and Opal had come in here because they needed the space. They had covered the wooden surface with every piece of gadgetry and equipment they could find, and were now trying to decide what they could take on their mission.

"What about these?" Opal asked, holding up a box of throat-mikes with evident distaste. They were Foaly's invention, and she did not like admitting that they were useful.

Artemis shook his head. "They could be detected. We have to assume that this place is at least as technologically advanced as the LEP was, considering that they now have all their equipment. If they catch us with fairy technology, we're done for."

"Good point. Iris cams?"

"Alright. They won't really be needed whilst we're there, but if one of us is captured they could come in useful."

Opal nodded and stuffed them into a rucksack before turning back to the computer beside her. "Have you memorised the layout of the building?"

"Of course."

"Good." The pixie leaned back in her seat for a moment, stretching contentedly before reaching forwards and plucking a small chocolate truffle from the tray beside her. She popped it into her mouth. "Mmm. Gods, have I missed these."

"Glad we stopped off at the store now?"

"Mmhmm. First good idea you've had all day, mud boy."

They had done a test of their bracelets earlier that day, driving out into Dublin in plain sight. Opal and Artemis had managed to walk straight into a supermarket and buy a shopping-trolley load of food without a second glance. Proof that the wristbands really did work. Plus, they were getting pretty sick of tinned food by this point.

Opal turned back to the computer screen. "Mud boy?"

"Yes?"

"You and the elf, the one we're trying to save, how did you meet?"

"Surely you know that?"

Opal shook her head solemnly. "Remember the first time I saw you was in that extinctionist's compound. I had no idea who any of you were, even if you already knew me."

"I kidnapped her when I was eleven years old."

She stared and then started to smirk. "Eleven?"

"Yes." Artemis noticed the pixie's sceptical expression. "Come on, Opal. You've known me for long enough now to realise that I'm a genius."

"Wow. You're not very modest, are you?"

Artemis stared at the pixie. "This is coming from the same person who doesn't let people look at her directly because it's _bad for her skin_."

"Yes… your point being?"

"Nothing," he sighed. "Anyway, I kidnapped her and then one thing led to another. Eventually we ended up as friends."

"And you are no longer as much of a criminal mastermind."

"Exactly." Artemis looked a little put out as he said this. "I found that, as I got more friends, it was harder to keep up my criminal activities without their disapproval. Somewhere along the line, I had begun to care about what they thought of me. Some of them at least."

Opal shook her head solemnly. "A pity. If only I had gotten to you sooner, before you gained a conscience. We would have made quite a team."

Artemis smiled a little and shrugged. "I seem to recall hearing that from you before."

Opal raised an eyebrow. "Not me."

"No," Artemis amended. "Not you. The future you."

Opal turned to Artemis and held out the tray. He looked at her incredulously. The pixie said nothing, but her eyes widened in assent and she nodded almost imperceptibly. Slowly, hesitantly, Artemis took a truffle, and then sat back.

"…Thanks."

"No problem."

* * *

**Aww. I love writing Opal now. She's really fun to write. Anyway, next chapter: Arty and Opal finally put their plan into action. The question is: will it work? **

**Anybody got any thoughts on anything in particular? What do you think Holly's reaction to her rescuers will be? Especially when one of them is Opal Koboi? Hee hee. Can't wait.**

**Send a review! **

**~Katy**


	18. Chapter 18

28 days till my exams start. Oh, and on another completely unrelated subject, my friend applied for uni this year. He had 8 '1's at standard Grade, and 5 'A's at higher, which is the absolute best you can get in Scotland, and he didn't get into a single university.

Slightly worried about next year now :S

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews for the last chapter! Here's the one you've all been waiting for… sort of.**

* * *

**Chapter 18: A Rescue Mission **

**Outside the M15 headquarters: Central London**

After almost two months of planning, it was time. sitting in the driver's seat of the black Volvo, Artemis slipped the bracelet over his wrist and watched as Opal did the same. For a moment, his perception of her fizzled as though she were a ghost, and then once more, she changed into someone completely unrecognisable. Artemis had a faint sensation that he knew the dark haired human before him; it was strange, because he knew it was Opal, and yet it wasn't her. He was pretty certain that once they separated inside the building there would be no way to find each other again. The woman looked at Artemis.

"Right. So I'll go straight to security on the third floor down and you head straight to the sixth. Give me a maximum of ten minutes once we're in and I'll have the system rebooted." Opal's job was to make sure the cameras inside Holly's room didn't show anything out of the ordinary. If Artemis was seen breaking into the room in his disguise and giving Holly a bracelet, the guards _might_ notice that something was up.

"Alright. If everything goes to plan, I'll meet you back in the car in half an hour. If I'm not back within an hour, presume that I've been captured and get out of here."

The woman nodded. "Right. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Without another word, the two enemies-turned-companions climbed out the car and strode briskly into the main entrance hall of the M15 headquarters. Once inside the marble-tiled room, they separated. Artemis headed left towards the service elevator that hid the secret headquarters. As he pressed the button, he turned back to face the hall. There were only a small number of people milling around the reception desk and a few more striding purposefully across the floor as they went about their errands. He had absolutely no idea which one was Opal. _Good. At least the bracelets work then, _he thought as behind him, the elevator doors slid open with a 'ding'.

Artemis stepped inside, swiping his fake I.D card over the scanner as he did so. It accepted his identity without any queries. Of course it did. Last week, Artemis had taken the liberty of creating identities within the M15 system for both him and Opal. She was a security official from the P.U.T.N.T.I division. This gave her unlimited access to all security within the M15 building. Opal could control every alarm, camera, I.D machine, laser scanner… everything. Artemis himself was posing as a new DNA analyst from America. The States had been quite closely involved with Britain after the discovery of the people and were making remarkable discoveries with the remaining magic from their own hostage fairies. Of course, now that Holly was supposedly the only fairy left, they wanted to get in on the action and had sent out a specialist as soon as they heard. Unfortunately, _that_ specialist was currently on a mis-labelled flight to Japan thanks to Artemis. He was taking the man's place since this would give him direct access to Holly.

Just before the twin doors slid shut again, a hand reached out to stop it and a dark-suited man stepped inside, nodding once at Artemis as he did so. He swiped his own card on the security panel and the doors slid shut for a second time. As the elevator began its descent, the man turned back to Artemis, who had to hold back a sneer as he realised who it was. He'd recognise those eyebrows anywhere. It was Graham Henderson. His interrogator.

"I've not seen you around here before." Henderson said casually, leaning on the wall as he did so.

Artemis shook his head. "I've just transferred over from the U.S, Alan Ferguson." He grudgingly held out a hand and Henderson shook it. "It's my first day." He said all this in a perfect American accent.

The man nodded. "What department are you in?"

"Medical research. I'm the new DNA analyst." he held up his fake I.D card, which was attached to the pocket of his lab coat.

"I see. So you'll be looking for the medical centre then. I'll take you down if you want."

"That would be much appreciated."

The elevator clanged to a stop and opened. Henderson took the lead and Artemis followed him down the still-slightly-familiar maze of corridors. They finally stopped outside a door and Henderson keyed in the access code before following the rest of the security procedure. Artemis watched closely before repeating the process himself, glad that he had though to add his biometric data to the system the night before.

"_Entrant identified as Graham Henderson, M15 special services, PUTNTI division. Species: human. Access granted. _

_Accompanying individual identified as Alan Ferguson, FBI special services, PUTNTI division. Species: Human. Access granted."_

The automatic door slid open and they hurried through. Artemis found himself in the same research facility that Holly had all those weeks previously. He stepped forwards warily as two small men in lab coats appeared from behind a jumble of machinery. The taller of the two, a thin man with a greying moustache stepped forwards and shook Artemis's hand warmly.

"Ah. You must be Alan Ferguson. Its good to have you here."

"It's good to be here, professor Haynes."

The other scientist stepped forwards and shook Artemis's hand too, though with a bit less enthusiasm. "You look awfully young to be working with DNA analysis. How old did you say you were?"

"Twenty-two sir. I graduated early."

"Quite right, quite right too." Haynes said genially, slapping Artemis on the back. "What did I tell you yesterday, George? Youth is getting smarter."

"Indeed."

Graham Henderson spoke up from the door. "Ferguson. You'll be working with these two for the next few months. They're in charge of the specimen so anything you find gets reported to them."

"Yes sir." Artemis said, watching as the man turned left. He got another clap on the back from the scientist with the moustache.

"So, would you like to see the specimen?"

Artemis nodded numbly as scientist-without-moustache brought up a security feed on the wall's plasma screen. He could see Holly. She was lying on a Hospital gurney in the corner of a whitewashed room. Her knees were tucked into her chest and her back hunched up against the wall behind her as though she could burrow into it and disappear. At first glance, Artemis thought she was sleeping. No, wait, her eyes were open. She was staring into space; the only movement was an occasional blink. The sight of the lively elfin captain reduced to this was enough to bring a lump to his throat. _She looks so utterly… beaten. She's been here too long, _he realised._ Two months…_ that was a fairly long time, even for a fairy.

Scientist-without-moustache was shaking his head. "If only you'd come sooner, boy. You should have seen the fairy when they first brought it in. Like a wild animal it was, kicking and biting. Calmed down a bit once it's magic was drained, of course, but still…"

Artemis stared at the screen, trying to fight down an angry retort. Holly was not an_ 'it'_. She wasn't some wild beast to be caged up in a cell.

It took him several moments to formulate a reply that didn't involve some sort of biting remark, and when he did, Artemis still managed to sound sarcastic. "That's a pity."

The two men looked at him strangely, and Artemis cleared his throat, changing the subject to cover up the slip. "When can I start working with the DNA?"

Scientist-with-moustache perked up a little at this. "As soon as you like. We've got a room set up for you." He glanced at his watch. "It's actually about time for her daily blood sample. You can do the honours if you like. We'll miss out the other tests today."

"Thank you."

Haynes handed him a small box with an electronic finger pad on the top. "Place your finger on the screen." Artemis did as he was told and a small red light appeared under the digit, moving slowly from the top of the screen to the bottom.

When it winked out, a tiny, metallic voice rang out from a speaker on the side. _"User identified as Alan Ferguson. Alan Ferguson now has full access to cell block seven."_

"There you go," said scientist-without-moustache. "Just go straight through. It's the second door on the right. And don't take too long. Remember, we'll be watching."

'_Not if there's anything I can do about it,'_ Artemis thought as he left. If everything was going to plan, Opal should have completely overridden the security system by now. The only thing those scientists would see was what she wanted them to see, which did not include what Artemis was about to do.

He stopped at the door and pressed his finger to the biometric scanner. It turned green immediately and the door swung open. 'T_hese people are far too trusting.' _He cast a furtive glance behind him and stepped inside.

* * *

She did not stir as the door to her cell opened with a creak. It would be the scientist with his horrid syringe again. She didn't care. Her ears pricked slightly as she listened to the soft footfalls approach. The man was quieter than usual, and the sound of his treads were a little closer together than she was accustomed to hearing, as though he were in a hurry.

There was a soft tap on her shoulder, and it was more shock at the first physical contact she had had in months than anything else that made her look up. Her eyes widened slightly as she noticed that it was a different scientist than her usual visitor. Though this one also wore a white coat and carried an I.D badge, he looked a little younger. He had dark hair and extremely pale skin, as though he hadn't been outdoors in a long while either. There were no remarkable defining features or blemishes on his skin, nothing that made him stand out. What really made Holly pay closer attention though, were his eyes. They were a startling contrast of hazel and blue, and stared down at her with the most furious intensity she had ever seen on a human. She was sure she had seen these eyes before, though she couldn't quite recall where. Soon losing interest, she looked away and held out her arm uncaringly, ready for the sharp and fleeting pain of the syringe. To her mild surprise, it never came.

"Holly."

This caught her attention. She had never told the humans her first name. She turned back to the mysterious visitor as he leaned over her and began whispering in her ear. She didn't know what he was saying though, as it was in a human tongue. English probably. This irritated her. She was fed up of not knowing what was going on.

"I don't understand you, human." she spat in Gnommish. Her voice came out dry and cracked from lack of use.

The human flinched a little and leaned back slightly to look at her. He switched languages. "Sorry. I said; I've come to get you out."

This made Holly start with surprise. He was speaking Gnommish, and fluently. "How do you know what I said?" she whispered in shock. He gave her a small smile that once more sent waves of recognition coursing through her. Who was this human?

"Just trust me. I'll explain later." He reached out and Holly flinched back, hissing almost like a cat. He hesitated but did not lower his hand. "I'm not going to hurt you." He extended his arm further and Holly recoiled slightly, but did not move as he unlocked the thin chain that attached her leg to the bed. For some reason, she instinctively believed him, though her mind was telling her to '_be careful, don't trust him'._

When she was free, he turned and beckoned for her to follow. Holly looked up at the human, eyes narrowed with distrust. "Why should I trust you? You're a human."

He grimaced. "Contrary to what _some_ people believe, I am _not_ like most humans. Now, do you want out of here or not?"

Throwing caution to the winds, Holly got unsteadily to her feet and followed the strange man from the room. After all, what did she have to lose?

* * *

**Does this count as a cliff-hanger? **

**Review please! I'm getting excited for this fic again!**

**~Katy**


	19. Chapter 19

**Just to make things clear before we go any further. This is _not_ an O/A fic. Opal and Artemis's relationship is entirely platonic. They are simply two people who hate each other but have been forced together by circumstances. By now, they are almost friends but neither of them will _ever_ admit it. That is all. :)**

**I am so sorry this took so long to post. Once again, school got me. It's now half-term and my brain is completely fried. Thanks for reviewing and being so patient with me!**

**This chapter has some swearing. Nothing bad though.**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Revelations**

**Inside the M15 headquarters: Central London**

Holly watched the human as he swiped his key card down the locking mechanism. Who was he? Why was he helping her? She only knew three humans; one was dead, one didn't remember her and the other had gone and left her for dead. So who was this person and how did he know her name?

The door gave a little bleep and the lock sprung open. Before opening it however, the man turned back to her and knelt down.

"Holly, I need you to put this on and do not take it off." He handed her a thin silver wristband. Holly took it gingerly, holding it up to examine the complex array of circuitry on the inside. The man took it back from her and slipped it over her wrist. She had lost a lot of weight since coming here so it jangled loosely, but thankfully did not fall off. "No matter what happens outside that door, do not remove the bracelet." He stood up and this time pulled the door open, striding out into the brightly lit corridor.

Holly followed wobbily, not quite sure what in Frond's name this man thought he was doing. Surely someone would spot her the moment she left her cell. But no, as they walked, no alarm bells went off; no armies of soldiers gave chase; nothing happened. The hallway was deserted. Holly found herself being led down a labyrinthine network of corridors until she was hopelessly lost and fully dependent on the man in front of her.

The first time they encountered a person, Holly was sure they were done for. As the heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor towards them, she halted and shrank back. This was it. They were done for. The next second, a tall thin woman rounded the corner and strode past, high heels clicking on the laminate floor. As she reached Holly and her saviour, she slowed down a little and gave them both a crisp nod before continuing on her way.

Holly's mouth fell open. _What on earth…?_

The man turned to her, a hint of a smirk on his face. "It's the bracelet. They don't recognise you. Or me for that matter."

She nodded numbly, deciding to ask about it later. Right now, they could just focus on escaping.

* * *

As the elevator 'dinged' to a halt, Holly almost felt herself leaping forwards in her haste to get out. She was so close to freedom now, she could almost taste it. Across the marble hallway, the cool, clear air beckoned. Nonetheless, she forced herself to keep up her relaxed walking speed. She didn't want to arouse suspicions. All around her, businessmen and women bustled this way and that. After her weeks of solitude, the sudden onrush of people made Holly feel quite dizzy. Her head was starting to spin.

As they reached the centre of the entrance hall, she stumbled and bowled into a large woman heading the other way. Holly almost yelled out an apology before remembering she couldn't speak English. Her saviour turned around as the woman launched into an angry tirade that she couldn't understand a word of. He caught the angry woman by the arm and spoke to her in a low voice. His tenor seemed to sooth the woman, for the next moment she straightened her suit, cast Holly a dirty look and continued on her way. The man immediately beckoned for Holly to follow and they continued across the hall, walking a little faster this time: the incident had garnered some attention from the surrounding crowd. The exit was so close now. Just a couple of metres…

The glass doors swung open and Holly inhaled heavily; her first breath of fresh air in months. It was even sweeter than she remembered. She didn't even mind the faint scent of pollution that came with large cities. As she followed the man down the front steps, a large balloon of hope began to swell in her chest. She was out. They were going to make it. In front of her, the man turned left and hurried down a side street, casting a brief glance behind him to ensure she was still following. Holly briefly considered making a break for it. She still didn't know the identity of her unknown rescuer and for all she knew, he could be taking her somewhere even worse than the MI5 building. She glanced the other way. The river of humans on the sidewalk would be easy to lose herself in, all she had to do was take a step forward and let the current sweep her up. The man would never locate her in all this chaos.

Holly dithered for a moment, the sighed. She turned left, following her rescuer. Her imprisonment may have stolen her ability to communicate, but she still had her wits about her. She knew she couldn't survive for long in this world, where everyone knew of the people. She had no magic and it would be practically suicidal to try and complete the ritual.

They stopped in front of a shiny black car with tinted windows. The man opened the back door and gestured for Holly to get in.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why should I get in, human? I don't know where you're taking me. I don't even know who you are."

He replied in Gnommish of course. Once more, Holly was struck by the ease at which the fairy language rolled off his tongue. "You're just going to have to trust me. There's no time for explanations here, they'll realise you've escaped at any moment. Get in."

There was something about the human's voice. It reminded her of… someone. Whenever she looked at him, Holly got the distinct impression that she knew him. It was annoying. She clambered inside and the door slammed shut behind her. As the man made his way round to the driver's side, Holly looked through to the front. There was a woman sitting in the passenger's side and she was inspecting her from behind a large pair of dark sunglasses. They made her appear slightly bug-eyed.

As the man opened the door and slid in, the woman slid the glasses off her nose and eyed Holly speculatively before addressing her partner in the front. "You know, I don't know what you see in her, I really don't."

Holly gave a start. This dark-haired woman also spoke in Gnommish.

"Oh, be quiet," the man replied, switching on the ignition and manoeuvring the car out onto a grid-locked street, "you don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't be rude. I helped you, didn't I?"

"Yes you did. and thank you. I appreciate it."

The woman smiled smugly. "I know."

In the back of the car, Holly cleared her throat loudly, feeling a little ignored. Both humans turned at the sound. The woman raised a thin eyebrow.

Holly spoke with a little difficulty. Her voice was still dry and cracked from lack of use. "Excuse me. Will someone please explain to me what is going on now?" she decided to see if the female would be a little more forthcoming. She leaned forwards in her seat. "Who are you?"

The woman smirked. "You'll know soon enough Captain Short. And when you do, you'll wish you didn't." with that, she turned back to the front and slid the sunglasses back on, hiding her face from sight.

Holly decided quite quickly that she didn't like the woman.

* * *

They drove for a very long time. After about two or three hours, Holly felt her eyelids drooping. The day's events were finally catching up with her and the motion of the car was making her sleepy. It didn't take long for her to drift off. She stirred once briefly, when they transferred her from the car to a helicopter, but only long enough to stumble into a seat and fall asleep once more.

When Holly woke much later, the helicopter was stationary beneath her. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it was now dark outside. She sat up; rubbing her eyes and was instantly wide-awake. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept without a single nightmare. Usually her dreams were saturated with images of Haven, of her friends and family being vaporized before her eyes. This time there had been nothing. Her sleep had been deep and dreamless and for the first time in a long time, Holly felt fully rested.

She stood up and moved to open the door of the helicopter. The two humans were no longer inside. She assumed they weren't far though. Why go to the trouble of rescuing someone only to leave them in some field somewhere?

A cold blast of night air hit Holly as she clambered down onto the ground. She shivered and crossed her arms over her chest. Her thin hospital gown wasn't exactly made for the outdoors. She missed her coil-heated suit. Shutting the door behind her, Holly felt her bare feet sink into long damp grass. She looked about, waiting for her nocturnal vision to adjust to the darkness. Once she could clearly make out the shapes of buildings, Holly gasped. She knew this place. They were at Fowl Manor. She could make out the huge sandstone building looming in front of her. It had fallen into a state of disrepair since she'd last seen it, but it was unmistakably the same place. Suddenly, she became aware of a slight movement behind her. Holly twisted around, instantly alert for an attack. The dark-haired man who had rescued her that morning was leaning against the side of the helicopter, not three feet away. He was watching her intently and when she turned, he straightened up, clearing his throat and licking his lips. _He's nervous. Why?_

" Holly."

"Who are you?" she whispered. "Why have you taken me _here_?" He made to move towards her but stopped as Holly stumbled back. "Who are you? How do you know so much about me?" the next part was louder, "Dammit! I want answers!"

The human shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "Please don't be angry. I couldn't let you know earlier. I wasn't certain if you would still come with me if you knew."

In one slow movement, the man grabbed the sleeve of his lab coat, pulling it up to the elbow. There was a thin silver bracelet encircling his wrist, much the same as the one Holly still wore. He pulled it off and let it fall to the ground with a soft 'thud'.

For several seconds, Holly stood dumbstruck, most probably in a state of shock. Eventually she regained enough of her senses to speak. "You're still alive?" Holly gawped at the teenager before her, now fully able to recognise him due to the removal of the perception filter. Then, something inside her brain registered that she was supposed to be mad at him. She swore and looked up at the human before her, her voice lowering dangerously. "Ar-tem-is."

"Holly, let me-"

"Artemis!" she grew louder as she got angrier.

"Holly-"

"Artemis! You D'Arvitting bloody human! What the hell are you doing here?"

He stumbled back from her as though her words were casting actual physical blows. Holly made no move to follow. It was probably only the shock of his appearance that kept her from lunging at him but she simply stood there, fists clenched in front of her as she yelled.

"You! I never want to speak to you again! You left me in there, you escaped without me!"

"Holly, I had no control over the situation, if you will just allow me to explain.

Holly let out a humourless cackle. "Explain? How can you possibly come up with an explanation that will justify the last two months? You escaped without me. They told me you were _dead_. They told me you were dead and I was _upset_, even after you'd left me! I hated you and yet I still missed you!" to her intense embarrassment, Holly's voice betrayed her, cracking at the end of her sentence. "I _missed _you, Artemis."

Artemis gave her a pained look. "Holly, I'm so sorry. I missed you too. I didn't want to leave you there, Minerva-"

Holly gave a small roar of frustration and in a fit of childish pique, slammed her hands over her ears. "I don't want to hear it, mud boy. I don't _care_ if you're sorry. I don't care if you missed me. And I especially don't care about Minerva 'effing Paradizo! It serves you right." Angry tears were welling in her eyes now, and she had to take her hands off her ears to wipe them away. "Artemis," she said quieter. "Why did you do it?"

He opened his mouth to answer but before he could speak, Holly, to her eternal mortification, began to cry. The sobs wracked her shoulders as she sank to the ground, curling into a ball with her hands round her knees. She had been inside that centre for Frond knows how long and she had never once cried. She had built up a wall of apathy to protect herself from her emotions, and now Artemis had come along and destroyed it. He had completely pulverized any protection she could give herself. Now that the threat had been removed, Holly just couldn't seem to keep it bottled up. She wept out all the anger and frustration she had bottled up. She cried for the horrors of the human race. She cried for her people. She cried for her friends. Most of all, she cried for herself. For her poor, shattered heart, which had been smashed hopelessly beyond repair.

For a while, Artemis stood awkwardly, not entirely sure how to handle the overly-emotional elf. He let her sob until she had nothing left to give, and then knelt down beside her and placed a hand hesitantly on her shoulder.

Holly shrugged it off. "Leave it, Artemis." his touch had brought her back to her senses, however, and she stood up, suddenly realising quite how cold it had gotten. She shivered again.

Artemis noticed immediately. "Please Holly, let me get you inside at least. It's freezing out here."

After a moment's hesitation, she nodded and allowed him to steer her towards the tumbledown doorway of Fowl manor. The entrance hall was freezing of course; the lack of a front door tended to do that to a room. But when he led her through to a cosy living room with a fire blazing merrily in the hearth, Holly melted. She hadn't even realised her teeth had been chattering till they stopped.

"Do you want anything?" Artemis asked from behind her.

"Food… please." she answered shortly, going over to the armchair closest to the fires and curling up in it, trying to warm her frozen toes. They felt like icicles.

Artemis returned with a haphazardly balanced plateful of food which had quite obviously been prepared by him, at least, if his previous sandwich-making experience was anything to go by. He set it down beside her and pulled a blanket off one of the sofas, offering it to Holly. She took it grudgingly and wrapped it round her body till only her head stuck out the top. Then, she grabbed the apple and started to eat, staring morosely into the fireplace. The next second, Holly regretted her choice of food. She choked on her first bite. It felt like sandpaper going down her throat.

Artemis looked at her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

Holly stopped her coughing fit to glare at him. "Does it look like I'm alright to you, mud boy?"

"Have you eaten any solid foods since you were captured?"

She shook her head. "No. They used a drip."

He closed his eyes and put two fingers to the bridge of his nose. "I'll get you some soup."

He disappeared once more and then returned with a bowl of steaming red liquid.

"This is soup?"

Artemis nodded. "They don't have it where you come from?"

She shook her head. "It looks like a hot nettle smoothie."

A corner of Artemis's mouth twitched upwards, but he held off smiling, not yet sure if he was permitted to show good humour. Instead, he handed her the mug. Holly took it and cupped it in her frozen hands, sighing as the heat melted the coldness from her joints. She took a sip and grimaced. "It tastes like metal."

"Sorry. We only have canned soup. Butler's… not here to cook."

Holly sipped the strange-tasting concoction silently, mentally wincing at the thought of the huge manservant. He was dead now too, presumably.

Artemis sat down in the armchair across from her. "So, how are you feeling?" he was obviously feeling optimistic that Holly's anger at him had abated since she'd stopped yelling.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Oh you know, not bad, considering that I've just been imprisoned for… how long was I there?"

"Two months."

"Wow. That's-"

Holly was suddenly interrupted by a rather loud knock on the door. The next second, a voice screeched through the wood. "Fowl! Get out here!"

Holly turned and looked at the closed door curiously. "I never asked. Who was that woman in the car?"

Artemis shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. "She's just-"

The door suddenly burst open. Standing there was the very last person Holly ever wanted to see again.

"Fowl! Where's the plasmic acid? I told you to stop moving it or I'd turn you into something unpleasant." The newcomer sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "I swear you just don't take my threats seriously anymore, do you?" at that moment, she noticed Holly in the armchair. "Oh, she woke up, did she?"

Holly's eyes narrowed. Without removing her gaze from the pixie in the doorway, she addressed Artemis, her voice going dangerously quiet once more. "Artemis. What in Frond's name is _Opal Koboi_ doing in your house?"

* * *

"For the millionth time, I told you. I made it back to Fowl manor after Minerva helped me get away. Opal was here when I arrived and I got her to help me. I'd be dead by now if it wasn't for her, and I never would have gotten you out of that place without help."

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do if we ever get out of this mess? Just send her on her way with a smile and a wave? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Holly, I needed help. She was there. I made her swear by her book that she wouldn't harm us."

Holly laughed sarcastically. "Artemis! An oath made by a homicidal pixie is about as safe to trust as Mulch Diggums in a room full of diamonds!"

Artemis grabbed her hand. "I had to do it Holly. After Minerva took me away, all I wanted to do was get you back. I had to use all the help I could get."

Holly pulled her hand out of his, scowling. "Don't touch me. How can I trust you? You're just like rest of them! "

"The rest of what?"

"Humans! You just can't trust them."

"No I'm not like them. I thought you'd be over this by now. Holly, I would never, ever do anything to hurt you."

She scoffed. "Yeah right. You kidnapped me once already."

Artemis winced. "Yes, and you know I regret that incident more than anything in the world. You forgave me for that years ago." Holly said nothing, staring at a crack in the ceiling just over his shoulder. "Holly, say something. You have to realise that I would never do anything to hurt you. I love you, remember?"

She knew how difficult it was to make him say those three words, and before she would have thrilled at the sound of them. Now however, things had changed. She had changed. She didn't even bother putting it kindly; she was too exhausted from this argument. "Well _I_ don't love _you_."

How could she possibly love Artemis when she hated all humans? When she wanted their entire species to crash and burn?

Artemis did not reply, but the expression on his face was enough. It was surprisingly reminiscent of a puppy that had been kicked and then left in a corner.

For a moment, something small and painful stirred in Holly's chest. She quelled the flickering of emotion and turned away, storming out of the living room and slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Artemis didn't get angry with Holly until much later. This wasn't surprising as Artemis was by nature a very calm person. It was quite rare for him to get properly annoyed, and when he did, he almost never showed it. He was still sitting in the living room, building up the fire in the hearth. Opal was curled catlike in the armchair on the hearthrug and was watching him through lidded eyes when it happened. He was throwing pieces of kindling into the flames one by one, each throw a little more violent than the last. Eventually, a small inferno was roaring up the chimney.

Opal watched the fire reflected in the human's eyes. "You should probably stop doing that, Fowl. You'll end up causing a chimney fire." Artemis threw down the piece of wood in his hand and stared into the flames, a heavy scowl on his face. He seemed to be pondering something and sat back on his haunches, turning his head to glance at the pixie.

"What do you think?"

She looked confused. "About what?"

"Humans? Do you reckon we should all be exterminated?"

Opal leaned back in her chair, choosing her words carefully. "I think humans are filthy scum, yes. But I don't think they should be killed. They are useful. When I am queen of the world I shall have a whole army of humans at my disposal. They are so much easier to control than fairies."

Artemis sighed and sat back down, leaning in closer to the fire. "That's not what I meant." He changed the subject. "Do you think people can change?"

"Change?"

"Yes. For example, hypothetically, if someone were a dangerous criminal when they were younger but they try to turn over a new leaf? Are they still bad inside?"

She considered the question. "I guess so. I wouldn't know. I have no intention of turning over a new leaf anytime soon."

Artemis huffed and lay back on the hearthrug. "Do you think _I'm_ evil?"

Opal laughed out loud at this. "You? Evil? Don't make me laugh, human. You don't have the guts to be evil. Not properly anyway."

Artemis didn't reply. He lay still for a couple of minutes, thinking. Then, as suddenly as if a switch had been flipped, he stood up and stormed from the room. A couple of minutes later, Opal heard a pair of raised voices from the room next door.

She rolled her eyes. Humans.

Holly stood high in the centre of the kitchen table, far out of reach of Artemis as he circled round the outskirts of the room. Her fists were clenched and her hair spiked every which way from the number of times she had ran her hands through it in the last few minutes.

"I don't understand." He said quietly.

"What is there to understand?" she yelled back. "You left me in there and then when you _finally_ do come back you are being helped by the one person I hate more than a_nyone_. Opal!"

"I told you a _million_ times! I couldn't have done it on my own!"

"Right. Sure. You know what? Maybe you should just go and have a relationship with _her!"_

"What are you talking about? That's just-"

"Look, Artemis. You just stick to your species and I'll stick to mine. That way, no-one gets hurt."

* * *

**Sorry. That was a pretty mean place to leave it. **

**On a lighter note, if you leave me a review, I'll get the next chapter up super-speedily!**

**Was Holly's reaction okay? I figured since she's had so long to get angry, she'd be pretty pissed off at Artemis by now. Having Opal there probably didn't help ;)**

**Good luck to everyone else who has exams coming up soon. **

**~Katy**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hello. Well I feel sheepish. This wasn't exactly a super speedy update like I promised, but I won't bore you with excuses. You know what they are anyway.**

**Thanks to all you lovelies who reviewed the last chapter! It was you guys that finally persuaded me to get off my lazy backside and write this.**

* * *

**Chapter 20: A New Direction**

**Fowl Manor: Ireland**

Holly found herself spending an inordinate amount of time in the gym over the next week or so, knowing full well of Artemis's aversion to the place. She didn't want to be disturbed, and she had lost a lot of muscle mass during her confinement. A liquid diet tended to have that effect on a person. To her dismay, she was tiring after only ten minutes on the treadmill. So much for being a LEP captain just entering her prime. Holly wouldn't even pass a _basic_ physical fitness test these days. It was the most frustrating thing; not just because she knew she was capable of _so _much more, but also because every burning muscle, every gasp of breath, reminded her of _why_ she was so unfit. And this always led her back to thinking about the topic she was desperately trying to avoid. Artemis.

She was angry with him. They hadn't exchanged more than two words since their last row in the kitchen. '_He abandoned you_.' That was what her more stubborn side kept saying. '_He left you to die_.'

But then, her more reasonable side would pipe up, '_would you really want him to go through what you did? He has magic too. If the humans ever found that out, he would have most probably been even worse off than you.'_

'_So what?'_ Her angry side retorted, '_why do you care?'_

_Because he's still Artemis. And you're not a selfish person. He tried to come back for you, he told you that himself.'_

_He lies._

_Well then. Why would he have come back for you all these weeks later?_

Holly's angry side stayed silent, finding no retort for this. Why _would_ he come back for her?

She knew she had been harsh; he wasn't really like other humans. She had known _that_ since a certain twelve-year old had decided to kidnap a fairy, and succeeded. How many humans could say they'd done that? The thing was, what made Holly the most angry was not the fact that Artemis had left her, it was that she knew, deep deep down in her heart, that she was going to lose this fight. No matter how long it took her, eventually she would have to concede that actually, Artemis was in the right. And this annoyed her because she really wasn't ready to make up with him yet.

Especially not with _her_ hanging about. That infernal pixie. In all honesty, Holly couldn't see where Opal fit into the equation at all, but Artemis wasn't going to send her away, and Holly was feeling a bit left out. Whilst they were off having their little scientific brainstorms, Holly was reduced to pumping iron in the gym; a true recon jock. No, Holly wasn't quite ready to forgive Artemis yet, and he certainly wasn't doing anything to speed things along.

One thing was for certain; things were _not_ going to get any better with that pixie in the house.

* * *

Artemis was also doing his best to stay away from Holly, who seemed to be permanently in the mood for throttling someone. At the present moment, he was stood in the kitchen, attempting to chop peppers for their dinner. Since there was no Butler around to cook for them, he had been pretty much forced to take on full kitchen responsibilities. Holly wasn't about to offer him her help, and Opal. Well. Try as he might, he somehow found it rather _difficult_ to imagine the narcissistic pixie slaving away over a cooker. Ever.

Keeping true to form, Opal was currently sitting on top of the kitchen table with a laptop perched on her knees. She was working. Or at least, trying to work. In reality, she was staring vacantly at the screen whilst the teenaged mud boy whined at her from across the room.

"Honestly. I have done absolutely nothing wrong. I understand that what she went through was horrible, but she can't really blame me for that, can she?"

"No she can't," Opal monotoned for what seemed like the millionth time that evening. She didn't take her eyes from the screen, hoping that the human would get the picture. _She_ _didn't care._

"Exactly. She'll have to start speaking to me eventually so we can work together to get out of this mess. She needs to stop acting so childishly. I think-"

"You know what _I_ think Fowl?" Opal cut in, finally looking up and brushing her hair angrily from her eyes as she spoke. "I think _you_ need to grow up and go and talk to her yourself. Honestly, you're both as bad as each other. Though to be perfectly honest, I don't really see why you would _want_ her to forgive you. A human and an elf?" she shuddered. "It's _icky_."

Artemis frowned slightly but shut his mouth, finally going back to his chopping. He was acting childishly, he knew that perfectly well. And he didn't really have any excuse to do so. He had reached the mental maturity of an average adult over a decade ago; it was just that he was so fed up with _everything going wrong._

"What's cooking?" a new voice joined the room and Artemis jumped at the sound, slicing his index finger with the vegetable knife.

"Dammit!" he quickly put the finger in his mouth, sucking the blood off the wound before inspecting it closely. It didn't look too deep. As he watched, blue sparks jumped from his skin and sealed it shut.

Opal looked up from the table again and smirked. "That's why they shouldn't let little boys play with knives."

"Shut up Opal." He said as he picked up the knife, "I'm not little."

"You are compared to me, I'm old enough to be your grandmother." She grinned and placed the laptop down beside her on the wooden surface, flicking her dark hair over her shoulder haughtily. "Come to think of it, so is _she_." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Holly as she spoke.

The elf glanced up and scowled. "Like he said Koboi, shut it." Holly took a seat at the table, resolutely avoiding eye contact with the pixie who sat above her. She wiped a hand across her forehead and looked across at Artemis instead. "You'd better be washing those peppers mud boy. If you've gotten blood in the food I'm not touching it."

"All right," Artemis did as he was told, running the vegetables under the cold tap. That had been the longest conversation Holly had had with him in over five days. He wasn't about to ruin it now.

* * *

Halfway through the meal, Holly looked up from the messily prepared risotto and scowled at Artemis. "I need to speak to you," she glanced at the listening pixie, "alone."

Artemis nodded, feeling a nervous lump rising in his throat. This was ridiculous. Holly shouldn't scare him. He had to admit though, the thought of what an angry Holly could do to him wasn't something he particularly wanted to consider. She _punched_ him as a sign of affection, and Artemis wasn't exactly the most physically capable person. Even with the height differences, he doubted he could defend himself against the tiny elf for long.

Propped up on a pile of cushions directly opposite Artemis, Opal waved her fork in the air. "When I am queen of the world, people won't have any secrets. They'll have to tell me everything."

"Yes, well. You're not queen of the world yet." Holly spat, before returning to her food.

* * *

Later on that evening, Holly met him in the library. He was poring over stacks of Qwan's spare notes that No1 had given him back when… things were different. Temporal physics. Not the easiest of topics to focus on when your mind is clearly somewhere else. When he noticed Holly standing in the shadows, he dropped the papers onto the desk gratefully.

"Hi Artemis."

He opened his mouth, not quite certain what he was actually about to say but intent on saying it anyway. "Holly-"

She stopped him with a wave of her hand. "My turn to speak," she murmured, moving into the light. Artemis nodded his acquiescence and Holly took a deep breath. She had to sort this out. "Artemis. I'm angry with you. You know that, but I _do_ know that I am being unreasonable."

"But then-"

"Ssh. My turn, remember?" she stepped forwards slightly, looking up at the pale face she knows so well, eyes tracing the lips she once kissed_- focus Holly! Bad idea. _"Artemis," she repeated, shaking her head to clear her thoughts, "I believe you when you say you couldn't come back, really I do. And I think… I think I forgive you for that. You _did_ come back for me after all."

Artemis nodded lightly, still wary of making a wrong move and blowing the fragile progress they were somehow making. Even if it was completely out of the blue.

Holly cleared her throat. "I forgive you for that. However, I'm not sure…" she paused for a moment, trying to gather the courage to say the words she really didn't want to say; but had to, for the sake of moving on. _This is more difficult than I thought it would be. _"Artemis, I don't think we can do _this_ anymore." she gestured between them as she spoke, and Artemis's eyes widened, as he understood.

"You mean… you mean _us_, right? Being together?" he had to ask for clarification, just to be sure. When she nodded slowly, he closed his eyes and sighed. He'd seen this coming. Ever since they'd got back Holly had withdrawn further into herself, and not just because she was angry. He had known there would be some sort of psychological consequences to her confinement. "You still see me as one of them, don't you?" he whispered, staring her straight in the eyes.

She held his gaze, the mirror image of her own, and nodded once, quickly, as though that would get the pain over with quicker. Like pulling off a band-aid. It didn't really work. "Sorry. But I was in there for weeks. And look what they did to my species. I'm just too angry with the whole of humanity right now. And this, _us_, it's too complicated. And I'm tired of complicated."

Holly shook her head, trying to dispel the traitorous tears that were rapidly gathering at the sight of Artemis's face. With his overbearing intellect, sometimes it was easy to forget that he was just a teenage boy caught up in all the drama of his first love. Sitting before her now, she swore she'd never seen him look so young. Or so helplessly lost.

Eventually, he nodded and composed his features back into the carefully smooth blank mask she was accustomed to. "Very well. We shall agree to put this behind us for now."

Holly stared at the human with surprise. She hadn't expected him to agree quite so easily. "Artemis?"

"Yes, Holly?"

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about."

"_We shall agree to put this behind us for now,_" she mimicked in a scarily accurate impersonation of his voice. "You're up to something. No way would you just agree to this."

He smirked a little, and the mask lifted from his face for a moment, betraying his emotions. "Holly, we are going to have to work together for now, and I feel that it would be a lot easier without all this tension, don't you?" he didn't wait for a reply before ploughing on, "I obviously still care about you, but I understand that your emotional state is somewhat compromised at the present time. I am simply stating that we should move on… for the sake of this mission."

"No. You're still up to something."

Artemis rolled his eyes at her. "Quite obviously. Just because you suddenly decide you don't want to be with me, that doesn't change my feelings for you. I still love you Holly"- her breath quickened slightly at that- "I am not about to let you get away that easily."

"Artemis-"

"-I won't act on it. I am perfectly content to play the waiting game if that's what you want."

"Artemis, I'm telling you, it's over. There is nothing left to wait for!" she was getting irritated now. "You're acting childishly again!"

"No Holly, I'm eighteen, a teenager. For once I'm actually acting my age."

Holly groaned in frustration. "Artemis…"

* * *

Outside, the sky was beginning to blacken as night stole its way across the countryside. A summer storm had been brewing all day, the turbulent clouds growing darker and darker. The wind was now picking up, and far off in the direction of Dublin, came the distant sound of thunder.

The first drops of rain fell, spattering onto the cracked driveway leading up to the manor. Within seconds, the volume of the erratic drops increased to a violent downpour. Water ran down the dusty windows of the manor and collected in muddy puddles on the overgrown lawn. A stream of rainwater slowly ran down the gentle slope of the drive, meandering all the way to the thick, wrought-iron gates at the bottom of the grounds, where two dark figures were squeezing through a recently excavated hole in the ground.

The first figure straightened up and looked about warily, pulling the hood tighter over his head. The other figure quickly kicked a few clods of sodden mud back down into the hole and glanced up at the manor. There were two electric lights on at ground level, shining out into the night like beacons, drawing the two weary travellers in. The second figure smiled at the sight, revealing a set of familiar tombstone teeth. "They're here."

* * *

**You know, I have never once in all my life referred to a plaster as a band-aid. I don't know why I did in this. Is it an English or an American phrase?**

**I'm not entirely sure if ill have time to update next week, so I'm making no promises I might not be able to keep. I will try however. **

**Anyway, it's time for me to actually focus on passing the remainder of my exams after the fiasco yesterday that was English. **

**Oh, and I want to apologise for the incredibly confusing conversation that was Artemis and Holly's break-up… thing. I've been writing too many critical essays over the last week and I kinda forgot how to write emotions. Ah well. **

**You like? Didn't like? Thoughts on Artemis and Holly, if any? Thoughts on the newcomers? Feel like having a rant at me for my late updating? **

**Whatever the case, please leave a review! It's the encouragement that keeps me going, and the end is in sight now! **

**~Katy**


	21. Chapter 21

***Shuffles feet awkwardly and tries not to look at angry readers* Yeah, hi. Long time no see, right?**

**I had a fanfiction identity crisis. You know, the ones where you are sucked up into another fandom and totally lose interest in your own story? Yeah. One of those. **

**In other words, blame Glee. Their fan base is INSANE. **

**I'm back now though, and while I wouldn't say I am totally cured, I have recovered enough of my love for Artemis Fowl to carry on writing this. Thank god. There is no way I would have ever given up on this story, but it could have been totally crap if I'd tried to write it when I no longer cared.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and kept faith in this story. You really helped me get my act together ^_^**

* * *

**Chapter 21: Reunion**

_**Fowl Manor: Ireland**_

Upstairs, Holly and Artemis froze simultaneously when the front doorbell rang. Who could possibly be visiting at this time of night? Who could possibly be visiting at all? No-one knew they were even here. They glanced at each other nervously, both afraid to speak. Far below, the bell rang again. It was a deep, loud clanging sound, the bell having been installed in the late 1900's. It reminded Holly of something out of a human vampire film, or funeral bells. They still didn't move an inch as the bell echoed away into nothing.

"FOWL! There's someone at the door!"

Well, if the bloodcurdling screech from downstairs was anything to go by, Holly would say that Opal seemed pretty unaffected by the threat of their imminent discovery.

"FOOOOWL!"

The pixie's racket seemed to jerk Artemis out of his reverie and he sprung into action, glancing around him and jumping to his feet. He hurried to the window and glanced out, trying to make out a figure through the velvety blackness that had engulfed the manor.

"Can you see anyone?" Holly asked in a small voice.

"No. It's too dark." He turned abruptly and hurried out of the room, crashing down the stairs two at a time. Holly followed a little more gracefully, but with no less speed. He skidded to a halt in the hall where Opal was waiting for them, one foot tapping on the floor and arms crossed across her chest. She opened her mouth, clearly about to launch into some tirade or other, but Artemis cut her off.

"Can you see who it is?"

Opal sighed in exasperation. "No. I'm not about to look through a window. They could be an enemy."

Artemis looked at her. "There is a peephole on the door you know."

The pixie scowled and drew herself up to full height. "I appear to have some issues with… reaching it. And I am not about to use a stool. That would be undignified." She stuck her nose in the air and sniffed pointedly.

Behind Artemis, Holly snorted. "Vertically challenged, are we Koboi?"

Opal sent her a glare that could freeze fire. "You're one to talk, Captain Short. You're barely taller than me."

"At least I can reach the kitchen table," she fired back.

Artemis ignored the pair and strode towards the oak door, though he sent Holly a flash of an amused smirk before turning away. He peered through the peephole set into the wood. To his surprise, there was no one there. He drew back just as the bell rang again, momentarily deafening him in his close proximity to the door. He peered out again and this time looked down the way. As he did so, a smile slowly began to spread across his face.

"Good news?" Holly asked from the stairs.

"The best." He replied as he swiftly unbolted the catch, keying in the access code and swinging the door open.

Standing in the rain, silhouetted by the porch light, were two people who Holly thought she'd never see again. Her jaw dropped. "Mulch? Qwan?"

_What?_

* * *

Later on, after a frenzy of hugging from Holly, awkward hellos from Artemis and pointed death-glares from Opal, the group gathered in the living room, ready to hear the tale of how on earth the two fairies had survived.

Qwan sat himself down on the hearthrug with his back to the fire in an attempt to warm up. The warlock's scales started giving off steam as he magically evaporated the rainwater that drenched him from head to toe. The others gathered around him, Mulch edging as far from the fire as possible without actually leaving the tiny room. Every so often he would send a pointed death-glare towards the cheerfully flickering hearth.

"So, you want to fill us in on what happened?" Artemis finally asked.

"Very well." Qwan cleared his throat. "After Abbot sent us into the time stream, we, like you, were catapulted into the future. As a warlock, I obviously had a bit more control over things than you pair," he inclined his head towards Artemis and Holly, "I knew that if we materialised in Haven we would not survive for long considering the state of affairs when we left. We ended up materialising in the Amazon rainforest."

"The Amazon rainforest? Seriously?" Holly sounded shocked and a little in awe. "I don't believe it."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"The Amazon is the largest forest on earth. Its one of the largest expanses of land with no mud men whatsoever. It's also an extremely protected site, by the people's standards anyway. Most fairies will never even set foot in the place in their lifetime. Especially now the humans are destroying it. At this rate there'll be nothing left in a hundred years."

Mulch nodded silently in agreement. "Even the dwarves dream of going there. The soil is like heaven," he raised his eyes up to the ceiling, sighing wistfully. "All those nutrients, no mud man chemicals, and the trees protect us from the sun..."

"There's a simulation in Haven's weather park. After the European temperate section it's the most visited area in the place." Holly added, still looking a little wistful.

"Right, okay. That's all well and good but what happened to you after you materialised?" Artemis asked a little impatiently.

"Right sorry. Since we materialised, we actually spent most of our time getting here. We figured if you'd survived this would be the most likely location for us to regroup. I was able to pass myself off as human using magic and Mulch was able to tunnel so it took a while but we got here eventually."

"But yeah, what about you guys?" Mulch added. "You haven't just been in the manor the whole time, have you? And why the hell is Opal Koboi here?"

"I resent that!" Opal called from her armchair.

"Shut up." Holly sighed exasperatedly at the pixie before turning back to the others. "Well, it's a long story…"

* * *

Much _much_ later on, Artemis decided to pipe up with a very unlikely question, coming from him anyway. "What are we going to do now?"

The others, especially Holly, stared at the teenager in surprise. Artemis was by nature a born leader. His cool head and quick mind automatically led other people to gravitate towards him when looking for an answer. It was not often that Artemis Fowl needed guidance, hence his intense dislike for psychiatrists.

The truth was, by this point he was tired of being in charge. He had spent over a month now with no idea what he was doing, trying to guide the others in some sort of positive direction with the fate of an entire species hanging over their heads. Fair enough, rescuing Holly had given him some sort of goal but now that that was accomplished, he actually had no idea what to do next. And so he looked to Qwan. "Is there anything you can do?"

"As the only member of this group with any real time travelling experience, I can try. It is possible that I can attempt to use No1 as some sort of anchor to draw us in to our own time. He is a very powerful warlock and since he is the only one in existence back in our time I might be able to get a hold on his magic and use it to reel us in."

Holly nodded from beside Artemis. "That sounds simple enough."

Qwan laughed humourlessly. "Trust me, it isn't. I just simplified that. A lot. Plus, it could take a long time to reach No1 through the time stream."

"Well you've got all the time in the world. According to the government, we're dead." Holly said quietly.

Mulch looked up from his corner. "Well, now that we've established what we're doing, can I _please_ get something to eat?"

* * *

**Oh. My. God. I'm so sorry. That chapter was like drawing teeth. Its so short, and rambling, and pointless, and just… aargh! Three months I have tried to write that!**

**Well, at least now I have all the characters where I need them to be. The next chapter should hopefully be a bit easier to write. I hope. **

**If there is even anyone left out there reading this, I am so sorry! I know how annoyed I get when an author gives up on a story, and I'd always promised myself I would never become that person. I very nearly did. but I'm back now, and this fic shall be finished :D**

**~Katy**


	22. Chapter 22

**Oho YES. What is this, you ask? Why, it's ANOTHER CHAPTER! That's right. Two in one day!**

**I got really fast reviews for the last chapter that made me so happy! To hear that people still care enough to not have massive rants at me is just… I love you guys! **

**So… I just wrote this in like an hour. Its short as well, but it needs to be. Because the next chapter will be epic.**

**Man its good to be writing again. I'm not even taking English this year, so I basically haven't written a thing since June. It could take me a couple chapters to get back into the swing of things, but here we go and hopefully its okay.**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Another Turning point**

**Fowl Manor: Ireland**

Five days had passed since Mulch and Qwan turned up on the doorstep of Fowl Manor. Five amazing days. Holly was still reeling over the discovery that they'd survived, and she was coasting along on some sort of happy high. She'd even had a civil conversation with Artemis the other day.

They seemed to have come to some sort of silent agreement not to mention any of their fights over the last few days, instead choosing to remain unerringly polite in the other's presence. At the moment, as far as Holly knew, things stood as follows; Artemis loved Holly. Holly loved Artemis but was still mad at him. She did not want a relationship with a human. Artemis was a human. Holly hated humans. Artemis was waiting for her anyway.

Frond, things were simpler when he was twelve.

She actually hadn't seen hide nor tail of the teenager since breakfast that morning. Him, Qwan and, she suppressed a growl, _Opal,_ were practically living in the lab since the demon had returned. A time-travelling warlock certainly made their predicament a whole lot less dire than it had been earlier that week. Qwan was fairly certain he would be able to locate No1 if they found the correct temporal co-ordinates, and so the trio had set about finding them. Apparently this involved a whole load of quantum physics. Nothing that Holly needed to, in Opal's own words, "worry her tiny little troll-sized brain about." Holly had uncharacteristically chosen to ignore this last remark, instead opting to allow the three geniuses to get to work. After all, the sooner they got home, the sooner Opal would be out of the picture forever.

Instead, Holly was spending most of her free time in the gym with Mulch. Not that Mulch exercised, he spent most of the time steadily eating his way through the remainder of the supplies while Holly gradually improved her stamina.

She really had missed the dwarf. She'd missed the inane chatter, the frequent rude remarks, the uncanny ability he had to annoy literally anyone. Mostly she had just missed how easy it all was. With Artemis, every moment was charged with some sort of tension. It was good to be free from that, even if it was just for a few hours every day. With Mulch, conversations were effortless. The back-and-forth banter they had established early on in their relationship was still there, and Holly felt her personality begin to slip snugly back onto her shoulders as she bickered with the dwarf, hiding the beaten, fragile elf left behind after the humans took everything from her. She loved that Mulch never asked questions about her personal life. Everything was uncomplicated, comfortable, stress-free…

"…What about mud boy? You're not speaking to him?"

She'd spoke too soon. Sighing and hunching her shoulders, Holly turned back to the grinning dwarf. She had to admit, he'd been unusually tactful in avoiding the question the first few days since they'd arrived. It had only been a matter of time really, and she couldn't dodge the subject forever.

"Nope." That wasn't to say she couldn't try.

She switched off the treadmill she'd been jogging on and slowed to a stop, wiping a careless hand across her brow and taking a sip of the bottled spring water beside her.

Mulch, noticing the lack of reply, eyed her curiously. "How come?"

Holly strode over to the punch-bag and slipped on a pair of gloves. If she was going to talk about this, she'd need to take her angst out on something.

* * *

Meanwhile, upstairs, Artemis was also having a pretty good day.

"Yes…"

"Come on, that's it…"

"Nearly there!"

"Bring it back a little… yes, yes, yes!"

"Opal, come on!"

Artemis and Opal were indeed holed up in his study, and contrary to the sounds they were making, were not actually up to anything indecent. The glowing, multicoloured warlock in the centre of the room was the cause of their exclamations.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Opal Koboi's triumphant cry echoed through the silent manor, causing the sensitive electrodes attached to her temples to spark a little.

"Opal! Careful. You'll break the connection!" Artemis lurched forwards but the pixie just waved him off impatiently."

"I've been doing stuff like this for years mud boy. Sit still and let the big kids work."

Artemis scowled a little, then realised that probably did nothing to help his argument. He was currently sitting on a swivel chair, facing the two colourful fairies opposite him. Qwan was in a magically induced trance, hence the glowing. If anyone had been walking past the windows that night, they might have thought the manor was the location of an underground nightclub. Opal was attached to the Warlock via a maze of multicoloured electrodes, and was wide-awake, concentrating on building and maintaining neural connections between the pair. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration as she focused every ounce of her mental capacities with a laser-point precision into the electrodes.

To be honest, Artemis felt a little useless at this point.

Earlier that day, they had hit a breakthrough. Qwan had been pretty certain that he now had all the information he needed to attempt to reach No1 through the time stream. He was now attempting to locate the warlock through time and space, which was risky business. If they reached him at the wrong time, they could end up in Hybras, or imprisoned in Minerva's mansion, or at the top or Taipei 101. either way, it would be certain suicide. Which was where Opal came in. they had found the exact temporal co-ordinates of No1's position when they had been sent through the time stream by Abbot. Opal's job was to focus on the exact time and place, broadcasting it to Qwan as he searched through the millennia for that single point. It was a bit like finding a needle in a really, _really_ big haystack, only, as Qwan would say, "much more complicated."

This required a lot more fine tuning than their escape from Hybras had, hence the electrodes and co-ordinates. Because they were now in an alternate reality, rather than one which was simply removed from time, any wrong calculation could end up with them simply having never existed at all.

Opal yelled once more, almost yanking Artemis off his chair as she grabbed his hand, sharp nails digging into his wrist. Her eyes flew open, glittering darkly in triumph as she grinned at him. "We've got it."

Artemis leapt to his feet. This was it. This was the moment he'd been waiting for almost three months now. He grabbed the walkie-talkie from the desk next to him and yelled into it, almost dropping the device in his haste. "Holly! Mulch!"

* * *

Downstairs, a small black walkie-talkie crackled into life. "Holly! Mulch!"

The pair in the gym stared at the piece of electronic equipment as though it had grown two heads.

Holly turned to Mulch, eyes widening. "You don't think…"

The dwarf shook his head, eyes widening in amazement. "Nah, they couldn't have… not already…"

There was a split second of silence, and then, "ARTEMIS! WE'RE COMING!" they scrambled up and rushed to the heavy oak door, almost crashing into it in their haste to get upstairs.

In a moment of clarity, Holly swiped up the walkie-talkie. "Artemis, have you done it?"

There was a pause and a crackle of static on the other end, then, "yes! We've done it! Qwan's made the connection! We're going home!"

Holly slowed down as she reached the top of the staircase, staring down at the walkie-talkie in her hand. She watched Mulch career up the steps, waving a half-eaten sandwich in his hands. She shook her head in wonder and then laughed a little. In the last two months, she'd never have thought it would come to this. Success hadn't really seemed an option at the time. She had just been trying to survive. But now…

"They've done it. We're going home."

* * *

**Whoo! Oh yeah another chapter. And it ends on a high note! Since when do I ever do that? Haha. Still not 100% happy with this but at least I am now updating! I have now gotten past the horrible point and I think I'm on a roll. Gonna try and write the next chapter tomorrow. **

**Thanks again so much for the reviews, shtoobs and Alexeng1995. You guys made my reopen my word document and keep on writing straight away. This chapter was for you. **

**~Katy**


End file.
